


Forever Girl

by izzyking



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Clueless lesbians, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, High School, Human, Lots of avatar references, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Summer Vacation, Trans Adora (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:29:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28246938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzyking/pseuds/izzyking
Summary: After six years of not seeing each other since the tragedy that was their senior year's prom, Adora and Catra end up in the same hotel during summer vacation. Will they be able to work things out now?A.K.A an au no one asked for but here it is.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 62
Kudos: 287





	1. Prologue: how we fell apart

It was Catra and Adora's first day at Bright Moon high, and they had never been so nervous. Last year they had been given a chance to study here and get out of the hellhole that was their old school. Catra got it because of her incredible math abilities and Adora because she was an extremely talented soccer player. But the main reason they were so glad to be here was because they could start anew, not give anyone reasons to bully them, like in the other school. 

"Ready?" asked Adora as they stopped in front of the school.

Catra held her friend's hand, heart thundering, and said "I was born ready, dummy."

Together, they walked through the halls. Certain that their lives would change forever.

It was the first day of the second week now and, incredibly, both girls had settled just fine. To be honest, some kids shot Catra suspicious looks and whispered behind her back. Catra couldn't blame them, apparently she was the only person that wore dark colors in this damn place. Well, her and the big girl in her math class.

Turns out, Adora and Catra only had two classes together: Physics and Arts. At first they were worried about being on their own - truthfully, Adora didn't want to be on her own and Catra was worried about Adora being alone. But they even made new friends!

Catra met Rogelio, a big muscly guy that seemed very out of place between the other colorful people, so she sat behind him. She learned that he couldn't speak, only listen so she volunteered to be his seatmate in English class. The next day she met Kyle, Rogelio's best friend and Scorpia, the same big girl in her math class. She didn't know them pretty well, but she really liked them. She felt like they all fit together.

Adora met Bow and Glimmer, who shared all classes with her except for one. She had unknowingly sat between them and had to pass note after note so they could communicate. Afterwards she thought it was easier to just try to talk to them and be friendly, and it worked. Bow and Glimmer presented Adora to the rest of their friend group who were noticeably the popular kids of the school. Adora felt different with them, accepted. She didn't feel safe like she did with Catra, but she liked that they didn't know everything about her. She could finally try to make friends without being judged first.

They sat together for lunch until today. Adora was making her way to Catra at one of the cafeteria's round tables when Glimmer popped out of nowhere in front of her.

"Adora! C'mon, I talked with the group and they all agreed it's time for you to sit with us!"

"M-me?" Adora asked. 

"Duh! Yeah, c'mon." She grabbed Adora's bicep and dragged the girl towards the other side of the cafeteria. Adora looked at Catra, smiling awkwardly as if saying sorry. Catra felt sad because she would eat lunch on her own but glad that people were treating Adora right. 

Suddenly, someone appeared in front of her, pulling her out of her misery.

"Hey Catra." Greeted Scorpia "Can we sit here with you? If we're not bothering, that is."

"Sure." Catra responded, biting into her pizza "Who's this?"

"Oh!" Scorpia finally took her eyes away from Catra and looked at the tiny girl by her side "This is Entrapta, she's in our Physics and Chemistry class."

"Hello!" said Entrapta, her voice way too loud. When she moved, her purple pigtails lashed around "You're the new girl right? I heard you're a criminal, is it true?"

"I'm a what?!"

"Oh, don't bother." Said Scorpia "People here think that if you're not from around the neighborhood, you're a 'bad influence'. It's silly."

"Yeah, it is." Catra answered, looking at Adora's table "Tell me, what do you think about those ones over there?"

Scorpia and Entrapta looked at the same spot, quickly answering "Meh, don't like them." Said Scorpia "They made fun of me at soccer tryouts."

"I don't have an exact opinion on them," Entrapta said while cutting her pizza into tiny squares with a plastic knife "but they used to talk to me until I bothered them too much and then started to ignore me."

_This is the kind of people Adora wants to hang out with?!_

"Interesting..."

Adora was spending more and more time with the other kids and Catra couldn't not feel left out. Everytime she tried to get Adora to hang out with her she would turn it down, saying she already had planned to hang out with Crop Top and Glitter.

By the second month, Catra was fuming. Adora was completely ignoring her to spend time with them. Even though Catra would hang out with her own friends too, she missed Adora, but it looked like Adora didn't miss her.

One night, Adora came to her house before Catra went to bed. She had climbed a tree to the window of Catra’s room, like she always did when they had sleepovers, and Catra let her in. Her anger towards her friend disappeared the moment she saw Adora entering her room.

_She looks so pretty._

She and Adora hung out on Catra's bed until late hours, talking about nothing and everything. Weirdly, Adora didn't mention her new friends, even when Catra mentioned hers. The only thing she said is that she would make fun of them.

She isn't wrong.

"We should hang out tomorrow." Suggested Catra "We haven't hung out for ages! We could watch Avatar again, what do you think?"

"As much as I want to, I already agreed to help mom with something after school. Sorry Catra." Adora said, not looking into Catra's eyes.

"S'okay. We can do it another day then."

"Yeah. Cool." Adora smiled at her, and Catra smiled back.

When they were too tired to keep their eyes open, Adora laid with her under the covers, her face mere inches from Catra's, making the brunette's heart burst in flames. When she closed her eyes, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being stared at, though she didn't complain.

When she woke up, Adora was gone and the window was open. _She didn't even wait for breakfast..._

The next day, Scorpia texted her saying that she and Entrapta were going out to the mall to meet with a friend, inviting Catra and her sister Lonnie to go with them. Catra agreed, since she had nothing better to do.

Her friends picked them up and headed to the mall. In the way Entrapta was talking non stop about the friend that they would meet up with and how cool they were. Catra didn't even listen, she was too busy thinking about her conversation with Adora from last night.

When the four of them entered the mall, Catra had a bad feeling. She couldn't explain why, but it was there. Shrugging it off, she walked with the girls towards the food court.

Stepping into the escalator, she looked at the opposite side of the room and her stomach dropped.

Adora was in the other escalator, many bags in her arms and Crop Top and Glitter in tow. She was laughing and gesticulating in a way that Catra never saw her do.

_She ditched me. For this. For them._

_'Helping my mom' my ass._

"Hey, you okay there? Catra?" 

Catra pried her eyes away from Adora, who didn't even notice her "Yeah. Everything's fine."

That evening, she met Hordak and the rest of the gang, and her life was never the same.

Next week, on monday, Adora’s first class was Arts, Catra’s favorite class. Usually, Catra sat by her side during the lecture but, when Catra arrived just as the bell rang, she crossed the room to sit beside a girl with pigtails, completely ignoring Adora. She didn’t even say hi.

During the class, Adora tried to call Catra’s attention in all ways possible - she coughed loudly, she feigned a sneeze, dropped her pencil case - but to no avail, Catra didn’t even look.

The bell rang again, signaling that the class was over. Adora got up from her seat and went towards Catra.

“Hey Catra.” she greeted, but was met with silence. In fact the brunette didn’t look at her even when they were face to face, simply getting up and walking with the chatty pigtails girl. Adora’s heart broke in half. _What did she do…?_

Hordak had liked Catra from the beginning and she quickly became friends with everyone of the group. They were the coolest, and they all liked her! She had been captivated by them not only because of their style, but because they were all outcasts. Everyone in their school believed they were bad guys, criminals, troublemakers and every other bad cliché. So, instead of fighting against it, they just gave people more reasons to believe in those rumors. It was so liberating! Catra loved the idea of not caring about what other people said, of being herself unapologetically. 

Truth be told, Catra hated having to be nice to people, especially people she didn’t like. Shadow had always yelled at her for being an impolite, reckless and useless child, so Catra forced herself to try and be as polite as possible, even when others were mean to her. But now that she was in the group, people were starting to be wary of her, to fear her. She didn’t have to pretend to be nice, she could just say ‘fuck off’ and they would vanish.

It was nice, being free. She had never felt like that. 

So, after a week of the mall ‘incident’, Catra had successfully avoided Adora and was spending all her time with her new friends. Adora would just watch from a distance, probably too worried about letting her precious friends down to come talk to Catra.

That same week, Catra got her first piercings. Her left ear had five of them now. Lonnie had worried that Shadow might yell at her for it. But that didn’t happen, she had given up on Catra a long time ago.

Catra became used to a new routine of hanging out with her friends, doing things she had never dared to before. They would go to the city’s forest to drink and tell stupid jokes, go to the mall and spend the whole day cheating at games in the arcade, and, of course, terrorizing the other kids at school. Though she had been dubious about messing around at school, because she didn’t want to lose the scholarship, her years living under Shadow’s strict rules made her a wonderful liar and an even better strategist. No one ever caught Catra in the act.

It was winter break now, and Catra and Lonnie were getting ready to spend The New Year’s at Entrapta’s with their friends. When she finished putting her eyeliner on, she picked up her phone to scroll through Instagram and immediately saw Adora’s new post.

She was squished between Crop Top and Glitter on her couch. She was wearing a pink beanie with fucking pom poms and the ugliest sweater Catra had ever seen. She had her hair in two braids tied by pink scrunchies and… _Is that glitter eye shadow?!_

The caption read: _New Year’s with the Best Friends Squad!! So excited to spend next year with you guys!!!_

Catra was gonna throw up.

She looked exactly like the type of people who bullied them in middle school. Did she really change herself for _them?_

Before Catra could drown more in her jealousy and anger, Lonnie came to her room to say that Scorpia had arrived. 

In Scorpia’s car, Catra picked up her phone again and opened Instagram. She clicked on Adora’s profile and hit unfollow. 

In their first week back to school, things went downhill. For real now.

Everytime their eyes locked, the air filled with anger and confusion. Adora, clueless as ever, still didn’t know why Catra was avoiding her. Even during the classes they shared Catra refused to look at her, let alone talk to her.

On friday, Catra was walking home after hanging out with Scorpia and Entrapta, and she found Adora walking towards her. She was wearing a pink sweater that Catra had never seen in her closet. Maybe it’s Glitter’s…

“Catra!” Adora called, crossing the street to meet the brunette. 

“Hey Adora.” Catra greeted without her usual excitement.

“What’s going on with you, Catra?” Adora asked, now face to face with Catra. She had her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed. It’d be cute if Catra wasn’t so mad at her.

“Me?” Catra asked, her anger rising by the second “You wanna know what’s wrong with _me?”_

“Yeah! You’ve been avoiding me these last few days and I wanna know why.”

“Well, maybe it’s because there is something very wrong with you.” Catra said, stepping closer to Adora, who took a step back.

“What did I do wrong? You’re the one who’s all… different.”

“Oh, _I’m_ different?! Adora, look at you.” she motioned at Adora’s clothes with her hand “You look exactly like the type of people who bullied us. You’re even starting to talk like them.”

“Oh please!” Adora scoffed, raising her eyebrows at Catra “Just because I changed my style doesn’t mean I’m a totally different person. I think you’re just being bitchy.”

“The Adora I knew wouldn’t have lied to me just to go out with her shiny new friends.” as Catra said that, Adora widened her eyes “Yeah, I know you did that. And I bet it was more than once.” Catra stopped, taking a deep breath “Why did you do it? Why did you have to lie to me?”

Adora was silent, looking at Catra with a nervous gaze “They don’t like you. My friends.”

Catra let out a laugh “Oh, so you ditched me, your only friend of more than 10 years, because Crop Top and Glitter don’t think I’m cool enough?”

“It’s Glimmer and Bow, and it’s not just them!” Adora uncrossed her arms, gesticulating wildly at Catra “No one likes you, Catra. Look at the people you hang out with!” Catra scoffed at that “Look at you! You got this- this goth clothes and... piercings! You say I’ve changed but you changed for worse.”

“You know what Adora, eat shit!” Catra was pointing her finger on Adora’s chest “If you actually took your time to know my friends, you’d see that they’re good peop-”

“You didn’t take time to meet my frien-”

“SHUT UP!” she yelled and Adora shivered in surprise “Just shut up!” she took another deep breath, preparing herself to say everything she’s been bottling up “ You fucking threw me aside just because you met a couple of dumb rich kids that can make you popular - don’t deny that you know it’s true! You lied to me just to please them. What happened to you?!” her eyes were filled with tears, but she wouldn’t dare to shed a single one “You’d rather be a part of the ‘cool kids’ shit than be my friend?! Adora I used to be your ONLY friend! I fought for you! Fuck, when people were calling you names, when they were throwing shit at you, when you started to transition, I was there for you!” a couple tears rolled down Adora’s cheeks “I was always by your side. Even when your mom-”

“Don’t you dare use this against me!” Adora was the one yelling now. She took a step closer to Catra, shoving her shoulder “You’re putting me as the bad guy when you’ve changed just as much as I did. The difference is that I’m not pretending to be a fucking punk bitch like you. Your friends are literal criminals Catra!” Catra just rolled her eyes, she was fed up “You’re unrecognizable.”

“You’re just changing the subject because you know all I said is true.” 

“You know what?” Adora stepped back, throwing her arms at the sky. “Maybe it’s better if we’re not friends anymore. This way I’ll only have supportive friends that actually like me, and I won’t have to deal with your bullshit!”

Catra froze, feeling her insides start to boil and her heart shatter into a million pieces. “Then go! Go be friends with the fucking Care Bears I don’t care anymore! I just want you to know that when they find out that you’re an annoying, stuck up, fake bitch I won’t be there.” Catra shouldered Adora with force, walking purposefully towards her house. When she was near the front porch, she turned around raising her middle fingers. “I hope you have a great fucking life, Adora!”

She got inside and immediately started to cry. She went up the stairs and walked straight to the bathroom, ignoring Lonnie’s weirded out look and locking the door. She clutched the round sink with a strong grip, knuckles turning white, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was a wreck.

Catra rarely cried. At least, not his much. Her face was red, her eyes and lips were puffy, her cheeks were damp and her chin quivered uncontrollably. She hated seeing herself like that, destroyed by a stupid girl who didn’t care about her. A girl that had left her behind and replaced her with glittery people.

A girl that she had loved so much for years.

Disgusted with herself and still ugly-crying, Catra reached the cabinet and grabbed Shadow’s scissors. If the old hag cut her own hair, then Catra could cut hers too. Though her eyes were blurry, Catra grabbed her unruly hair with force, slicing more than half of each strand. Tufts of dark brown fell to the floor, forming a pile. Catra’s hair was huge, it hid her face completely in between curls, but now it was almost all on the bathroom floor.

When she cut the last long strand of hair, she gazed at the mirror and gasped “Holy Fuck.” she cursed. She covered her mouth, eyes still locked to her reflexion. 

She had stopped crying now, too stunned to do so. Her hair was short, very short. She glanced between the pile of hair on the floor and her reflection, still not believing it. She had cut wrong (obviously, as she had her eyes filled with tears), but she noticed the difference in herself. She could actually see her face right now. Her freckles, her big mismatched eyes, her piercings stood out too. And also, she felt lighter than ever.

She felt like she had killed past Catra. _Good._

There was a knock on the door, startling the brunette who opened it.

Lonnie stared at her, then at the mess on the floor, silently. “Do you want me to fix this?” she pointed to her sister’s hair.

“Yes please.” Catra answered. They cleaned the floor and went to Catra’s room with Shadow’s scissors in hand. Turns out Lonnie is a really good hairdresser.

After she was finished fixing Catra’s hair, they went to the mirror and high fived. It was even shorter now, but was perfectly framed in a pixie cut. 

That night, Lonnie slept in Catra’s bed, coaxing her sister to talk. Catra didn’t tell her everything, but enough for her to know how ugly the situation was. Lonnie didn’t say much as she didn’t like to get into other people’s issues, but she was glad that Catra had other friends now, and guaranteed that she wouldn’t be alone.

Catra was grateful, really. But she knew that it’d never be the same. There is a difference between being alone and being alone without Adora. They had been friends for so long, Catra forgot about life without the blonde in it. Sure, they both had other friends now, but there was always going to be a hole in her heart now. Left by someone who she had loved in any form of the word.

Catra didn't see Adora until thursday. The blonde skipped three days of school, making Catra feel divided with guilt and satisfaction. She knows it's messed up, but she hopes Adora felt just as bad as she did. 

On thursday they saw each other in the hallways as Catra walked with Scorpia to english class and Adora was in her locker, talking with Glitter and Crop Top. When Catra walked by them she felt Adora's eyes on her, but she didn't dare to look at her, only when they were far enough and Adora was turned towards Glitter.

During lunch break, Catra was listening to Entrapta rant about her latest experiment for her chemistry class when she felt someone tapping her shoulder. She turned around to see Glitter looking down at her with her arms crossed.

"Catra." she practically barked Catra's name "We need to talk."

Catra raised an eyebrow at her. "Uh, I have nothing to talk to you, Glitter. I don't even know you."

"It's Glimmer. And yes, as a matter of fact, we do."

Catra rolled her eyes. _Fuck this shit._

"Alright then." Catra fully turned towards the sparkly girl, but continued seated beside her friends. "What do you want?"

"You need to apologize to Adora right now." Glimmer said, moving her arms to her hips, trying to sound demanding.

Catra laughed, not believing this was happening "I'm sorry? Look, Sparkles, why don't you go back to Lazy Town over there and never bother me again? I'm not in the mood to deal with you."

"No. I'm not getting out of here until you stop being a bitch and apologize to my friend."

Catra felt her anger rising. This is not going to turn out well.

"I don't know what you did, Catra, but you have to fix it." Glimmer stepped closer at the same time Catra got up.

"Exactly. You have no idea what happened, so fuck off and don't come near me again." 

"Or what?" Glimmer asked, poking Catra's chest hard.

At that, Scorpia, who was thrice the size of both girls, stood up. Glimmer flinched, stepping back. Scorpia put a hand on Catra's left shoulder and the brunette felt herself relax.

"You heard her. Fuck off." Scorpia said. Catra had never seen her angry, let alone intimidating someone. She felt grateful to have Scorpia protecting her like this, even if Glimmer wasn't that big of a threat. She realized that Scorpia made her feel safe.

Glimmer took one last look at Catra, who showed her tongue and went back to her table, walking and buffing like a spoiled little kid.

She felt eyes on her, but she ignored the feeling and reached for Scorpia's wrist.

"Hey, uh..." Catra looked at Scorpia, who was blushing slightly "Thanks, for defending me."

Scorpia smiled, sitting down besides Catra "No problem, Wildcat."

Catra giggled at the new nickname and continued to listen to Entrapta, who had resumed her ranting.

Since Sparkle’s failed threat attempt, both groups were more hostile than ever towards each other, throwing ugly looks, calling each other names, throwing paper balls… And summer break was no different. The princesses thought that they would have peace outside from school, but Catra made sure they didn’t. 

While Catra and Scorpia tried their best to mess with Adora, Glimmer and Bow, Hordak had also picked a fight with Glimmer because the girl ratted him and his brother out after she caught them spraying the school’s wall, so now the whole group was devoted to making their lives a living hell.

Perfuma was throwing a party at her house and, being the personification of the live laugh love motto, she invited everyone, including the so called ‘bad guys’. Catra arrived at midnight with Scorpia and Entrapta, immediately heading for the drinks table. Perfuma warned that this was a ‘friendly party, so no alcohol’. However, that was about to change.

Catra and Rogelio slowly approached the table with tiny flasks full of the strongest drinks they could find and spiked all of the colorful juices and punches on the table, with Scorpia and Lonnie covering them.

They didn’t have to wait too long, soon enough you could see all those preppy kids dancing and speaking erratically. There was a guy from Hordak’s class, Sebastian, who put a chair on fire and yelled ‘ADVENTURE!’ with a blue haired girl behind him saying ‘Hell no, Sea Hawk!’. But the best of the bests had to be Adora. Catra had been watching her, and the girl took one single cup of spiked punch and was drunk. She talked nonsense and kept falling and saying that she was ‘just peachy’. _Dumbasses._

Lonnie signaled for them to leave after a while, so Catra went to the bathroom quickly and, to her surprise, Adora was already there. The blonde’s hair was almost all out of her ridiculous ponytail and her blue shirt was half untucked out of her pants.

“Cat-ra! You came to my birthdayyy!” she slurred, throwing her arms in the air “Happy Hanukkah!” then, she hugged Catra.

“Get off, idiot, your birthday’s in january.” Catra said, trying to push Adora away but failing miserably. Adora had always been much stronger.

“I miss you, Catra.” Adora said in the crook of Catra’s neck, making the brunette blush.

“Doesn’t look like it.” Catra said, feeling her heart drop.

“Why do you have to be like this, huh?” Adora asked, trying her best to speak normally “I juss want my Catra back.”

Catra shivered. _My Catra._

“You were the one that pushed me away Adora. You’re happy enough with your new friends.”

“No, Catra. You don’t underssand.” Adora pulled back to look Catra in the eyes “I… You… I l-li… You and m…”

“...Yes?” Catra urged her to speak, too curious to be patient.

Adora continued to stare into Catra’s eyes and, when she was about to say something, she turned around to open the toilet and emptied her drink out of her stomach.

“Yikes.” murmured Catra. She thought about staying and helping Adora, maybe try to get her to say what she had been about to tell Catra, but she’s drunk. Whatever it was, she didn’t really mean it.

She walked down the hallway, stopping to tell Crop Top about the state Adora was in and left with her sister and her friends. That night, she didn’t sleep.

The years that followed were pretty much the same. They had created a routine of who was going to bother who on that certain day, sometimes Catra even managed to make the preppy kids shed some tears. She had become quite good at being bad.

The problem was that, even though messing with Adora and her friends brought satisfaction at the moment, she was filled with sadness afterwards. She felt happy with her new friends, but the hole in her heart still hurt like a fresh wound, and the fact that she saw the girl almost everyday only made it worse.

There were moments which Catra regretted ending her friendship with Adora as there were times where she was glad it had happened. It was either yearning or hatred, no in between. 

One of the moments that filled her with anger was the time when Adora had a boyfriend. _Fucking Christopher._

Chris was the captain of the swim team and was considered to be one of the hottest guys at school. Catra didn’t understand the hype he got, but then again, she is a raging lesbian, she will never understand the hype for any man - except maybe Harry Styles.

Adora was all giddy and silly around Chris while Catra puked in the background. He would stop by her locker and lean on it as if he was _sooo cool._ He even gave her flowers! Who the fuck does that in the middle of the hallway?! 

Their affair lasted a total of six months, with them officially dating only for four (not that Catra was counting). Nobody knows exactly why he broke up with Adora the day after winter break, but all the rumors had one thing in common - they were all based on the fact that Adora didn’t want to have sex with him.

He had broken up with her during lunch break in the cafeteria. They talked quietly, but everyone knew they were breaking up by the way Adora was angrily gesticulating. When Chris walked out, Adora turned around with tears in her eyes. She walked to the other exit near Catra’s table, visibly humiliated.

Hordak was about to say something stupid but was interrupted by Catra kicking his shin on the other side of the table. Catra and Scorpia lowered their heads to focus on their food while Entrapta was already immersed on her tablet. None of them dared to look at Adora, they knew it would only make it worse.

However, Adora didn’t skip the next days of school like Catra had expected her to. In fact, she seemed pretty normal. Of course, everytime one of those ridiculous jock guys passed by she would shrink and try to hide herself, but apart from that, she seemed okay.

Catra didn’t even feel bad, to be honest. Fuck Chris, Adora deserves someone better anyw-

She cut her own train of thought. _She isn’t supposed to think good things about Adora goddamit!_

Sometime in December in their senior year, someone whose name was not important to Catra threw a party at their house, which was big enough to invite everyone from their grade. The party was good, Catra was having a great time with her friends who, incredibly, decided to take a break from antagonizing Adora’s group to actually have fun. 

They were all sitting at a big couch in a very expensive looking living room. Kyle, Lonnie and Rogelio were all huddled together at one end, Hordak was in the middle with Entrapta settled between his legs (yikes) and Scorpia was at the other end. The end of the couch could only fit Scorpia so Catra sat on the armrest beside her.

Scorpia chatted with her throughout the night about a million different things that Catra was only pretending to pay attention to. She likes Scorpia and she wasn’t blind, she knew that the big girl had had a thing for her since they met. But now Catra was much closer to her, they were best friends even. And also, Catra was lonely.

Last week, Shadow had asked about Adora, to which Catra responded with ‘we’re not friends anymore’, so Shadow thought it was a brilliant idea to say:

“Ah, of course. It was about time anyway.” the old hag swayed her cup of wine while talking “Someone as useless and annoying as you could never keep a friendship with someone good, like Adora. You’ll never be good enough for good things, Catra. I hope you’re smart enough to settle with scraps.”

Sometimes, she wishes her caretaker would go back to slapping her face instead of talking to her like that, but as always, she never gets what she wants.

So yes, she was sad and lonely, but Scorpia soothed those feelings. It wasn’t the same as it was with Adora, it will never be, but at least she makes Catra feel safe. It’s more than she could ask for.

And it’s for this reason that Catra kisses Scorpia on the sofa of a complete stranger during a party, in front of everyone. And Scorpia kisses her back. Soon enough, everyone will talk about the new couple in Bright Moon High.

That same night, Catra wandered to the backyard to smoke one of Hordak’s cigarettes when she stumbled upon Adora, who was exceptionally drunk. Again.

She wore her hair in a braid that fell down her shoulder, which was looking good compared to last time. She was wearing jeans with a white sweater - well, _once_ a white sweater, as it was covered in stains of a bunch of different spilled drinks.

“Cat-tra…” she hiccuped “Get out of here!” she waved her hand towards Catra turning her head so the brunette couldn’t see her face.

“What?” Catra asked, taking a step towards the drunk girl.

“I don’t wanna talk to yooou.” she slurred “You meeeaan!”

“I’m mean?” 

“Uh-huh.”

“Well understatement of the year.”

Adora snorted, her laugh even dorkier than normal. “Ah! Don’t make me laugh!”

“Adora,” Catra couldn’t deny she didn’t like to see Adora like this “why don’t you go back inside?”

“You don’t boss me, nuh-uh.” Adora said, getting up on wobbly legs and finally looking at Catra. Her face was red and her makeup a bit smushed. She had been crying.

“Why were you crying?” asked Catra, getting even closer.

“Nonya business!” Adora shooed Catra with her hand “You’re mean!”

“Adora, say someth-”

“You make me sad a lot.” Adora turned towards her, new tears spilling from her eyes “ _You_ did this t-to me. So don’t p-pretend y-you’re good!”

Catra froze, trying to process everything Adora was saying.

“I’m happy we’re not friends, ya know?” the blonde continues “You really are a bitch.”

Catra felt like she had been slapped. She turned around and went back to the living room, nudging Scorpia on the shoulder. “I wanna go home, c’mon.” she said to her. Scorpia immediately got up and grabbed Catra’s hand, which was dwarfed by hers. 

Later, she made out with her in Scorpia’s car. The whole time she pretended to see ocean eyes instead of brown ones.

Finally, it was prom. One last party to celebrate their last year in this hellhole. And Catra had everything prepared to make this night shine.

Their gang entered the gym like they were on a runway, pulling everyone’s attention towards them. But, honestly, Catra couldn’t blame them - they really were the hottest people in there. 

Catra knew she was looking fantastic in that maroon suit, Scorpia had said so at least 15 times before they got there. And she also knew everybody would be talking about how good she and Scorpia looked as they walked through the dance floor. She could only hope Adora noticed that too.

She forced herself not to look for her former best friend and enjoy a couple dances with her kind of girlfriend and their friends. However, as they were dancing, her eyes gravitated to lock onto Adora’s across the dance floor. She could see that Adora was angry just by the blush on her cheeks and the curve of her eyebrows. She didn’t want Catra here, that much was obvious. 

_She has no idea what’s coming for her._

Glitter and Crop Top were beside her, also staring angrily at her and her friends. Catra spotted the rest of the Scooby Gang behind them, wearing clothes as colorful as ever. Her staring match was interrupted by Kyle poking her shoulder.

“What?” she growled, moving to dance with Lonnie as the song changed.

“The punch is spiked and no one noticed the balloons.” he said, holding back a smile “I think our mission will be a success.”

“Sure, Kim Possible. I’ll hold onto your word.” she smiled. _I can’t wait for it._

They kept dancing for a long time, watching as their fellow classmates started to get drunk and stupid as they drank the punch the boys had spiked. She stole a glance upwards and had to squint to spot the big balloons. She and Scorpia had bought them black so no one would be able to see them on the high ceiling.

During the early hours of the morning, they had all snuck into the gym as the preparations for prom had already ended and there were no more teachers around. They filled the balloons with Entrapta’s mix and tied them with ropes on the top so they wouldn’t pop immediately, and secured them high up on the ceiling with the help of a huge ladder that Rogelio had for some reason. The plan had been started by Hordak after Glimmer had once again ratted him out to her mom, the principal, over another one of his pranks. Later on, Catra had perfected it with Lonnnie’s help and Entrapta had come up with the mixture to fill the balloons.

If everything went according to plan tonight, Adora and her sparkly friends would never forget prom night.

Adora had not once talked to Catra that night, but the brunette noticed that she kept circling her and Scorpia all night, only dancing when one of her friends dragged her to the dance floor. Catra watched her intently as her red, sleeveless dress swayed with her soft movements, her slightly muscled arms on display as she moved them clumsily to the beat of the disgusting pop songs that were playing. As she watched her dance with Sparkles, Catra couldn’t help but wish that was her-

_Stop it! Adora hates you, and you hate her!_

Suddenly, the music stopped and one kid walked up the stage, stopping at the microphone placed on the center. “Good evening, everyone.” they greeted, fumbling with a couple of cards in their hands “Even though I hate to interrupt the dance, it’s time to crown our Prom’s King and Queen!”

The crowd cheered but Catra paid no attention to it, turning her head to nod at Hordak, who nodded back. _It’s time._ From the corner of her eye she saw Kyle and Rogelio going back to the gym’s entrance, slipping away without anyone noticing.

While the student’s speech was still going, Catra walked quietly towards where Adora was standing, waiting for the right time. She wanted to mess with her one last time before they parted their ways for good.

“This year’s Prom King is…” the student onstage announced “Sebastian Hemmings!” the crowd cheered again as a big himbo walked forwards with a huge smile on his face. He put on the crown and made a dumb speech Catra didn’t bother to listen to and stepped back, waiting for the announcement of the Queen.

“The Queen is... Mermista Patel!” Catra heard the sparkly people screaming as the girl walked slowly to the stage. Mermista grabbed the bouquet and put her crown on. Then, she went to the microphone for her speech, but she only said “Thank you.” and walked away. Catra decided that, if the circumstances were different, she would’ve liked this girl.

The King and Queen descended the stairs to have their dance, him much more excited than her, and were soon followed by the rest of the students there. Catra, following her devious plan, walked over to Adora and tapped her shoulder.

“Wanna dance?” she asked as she held out her right hand, a smug grin growing on her face.

Adora scowled at her, but reached to grab Catra’s hand. Her intentions were to lead the dance, but Adora didn’t allow her to, forcefully holding Catra’s waist as the brunette rested her arms on her pale shoulders.

“You’ve been too quiet, Catra.” Adora said as they swayed to the music “Don’t think you can fool me, I know you.”

“Eh, I don’t think you do.” Catra said, still smirking as Adora made her spin then caught her again “You’re too busy trying to please those princesses to get to know me.”

Adora scowled more, scoffing at Catra’s words but didn’t deny anything. Then, she said something that surprised Catra:

“You look good tonight.” 

Catra forced herself not to blush at that, but she couldn’t stop her heart from beating hard on her chest.

How could Adora say something like this, but then treat her like she was scum?

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Catra said as they circled each other, their hands joined in the middle. “But I have to say, the hair poof is still a downer.”

Adora rolled her eyes, bringing Catra closer as the song neared its end. Catra had to hurry up.

“You know,” she said, moving her hands to hold Adora at her hip and shoulder “I’m gonna miss messing with you after we go to college.” then, at the very end of the song, Catra dipped Adora, balancing her and intertwining their legs. “But I’m gonna make sure to leave with style.”

Adora went beet red, her eyes widening as she stared at Catra’s mismatched ones. She brought her hands up to Catra’s shoulders, gripping tightly and not letting go.

Catra straightened them up, stepping back and letting go of Adora. However, the blonde snatched her wrist, stopping her from leaving. “Catra…” she said, face still flustered and eyes wide. “Can we talk later?”

Catra’s whole body froze, her stomach churning with butterflies. Innocent hope filled her chest, Adora wanted to talk to her, maybe make amends.

But then, Catra remembered how she had been cast aside, replaced by new, prettier friends. How Adora lied to her, played her. After all these years, Catra still loved her. Hopelessly. She couldn’t let her heart be broken again.

“I’m afraid now it’s too late, princess.” Catra said, watching as Adora’s eyes got even wider “Goodbye, Adora. I hope you have a great life.”

She walked away and Adora let her go. She didn’t stop walking until she was far enough that Adora couldn’t spot her, and ran to the doors, stepping out of the gym to meet Scorpia and Entrapta. Right then, Kyle cut the ropes that were securing the balloons and they fell right onto their classmates in the center of the room. Entrapta’s mixture of glue and lots and lots of glitter slided across their hair and clothes, sticking everywhere. They heard Sparkle’s shrill scream and Mermista’s cursing as everyone moved their limbs uncontrollably to try to shake the glue away, but Catra’s eyes were fixated on Adora.

She looked down at her - now ruined - red dress, but when her face tilted up, Catra didn’t see anger, like she expected. Adora looked lost, eyes searching for something in the crowd.

Catra was done, she turned around and ran to the parking lot to get into Hordak’s car, Scorpia and Entrapta close behind.

She hopes she won’t regret everything.


	2. you again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora reunite after everything that happened

After hours of listening to Scorpia and Entrapta singing off key to 80s songs, Catra was eager to get out of Scorpia’s car. When they arrived at Mystacor Island and made a stop at a McDonald’s to eat, Catra jumped out of her seat and stretched. It was an extremely hot day, the sun burning her skin and darkening her freckles. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and got inside the restaurant with her two friends. 

They made their orders and sat by a large window, watching the waves crash into the rocks that surrounded almost all of the island. “It’s so beautiful, right?” Scorpia asked, but Entrapta and Catra were with their mouths full of fries, so they only nodded. “Oh, man. I needed a vacation. One more day in that crazy office and I would’ve flipped!”

“Why do you work there then?” Catra asked, sipping her soda.

“Ah, y’know. It pays well and it’s family business. What else would I do?”

“Something that you actually liked.” answered Entrapta, who was taking a bunch of pictures of some weird looking birds that were flying by.

“Meh, I like it. And what about you, Wildcat?” Scorpia changed the subject “You needed a vacation too.”

“Yeah, I did.” Catra said, still chewing her burger “Although I like my job, doing it all on our own is hard.”

“Oh but don’t worry.” Entrapta said, patting Catra’s shoulder. She was starting to get good at physical touch, especially with the people closest to her “It’s normal for new business owners to be on their own at the beginning. You’ll see that soon our office will have more people to work with us.”

“Yeah. I just hope we’ll be able to actually enjoy this trip.”

They finished their healthy late lunch and went back to the car for Catra’s dismay. They wandered around the city for a while, looking at what places they could go, where they could eat, yada yada. Catra was tired. She desperately needed to sleep before she passed out on this damn truck.

Scorpia finally pulled up at the hotel, which was way bigger than Catra had imagined. It was a white building with details in yellow and blue, and there were plants everywhere, giving it a resort kind of vibe. Catra liked it right away.

“Oooh, this place is fancy! Their wi-fi must be great!” Entrapta cheered, gathering her backpack and walking in front of the two girls.

“We’ll have to take turns looking after her.” Catra whispered to Scorpia “You know I don’t trust any body of water near her.”

“Don’t worry Wildcat, you can relax. This trip’s gonna be amazing!” Scorpia said, opening the hotel’s door.

It was even fancier on the inside, with wooden tables and dark couches on what seemed to be a lounge area near the reception. The people were well dressed too, all in white uniforms with a big Mystacor written in yellow above 5 little stars. The three of them looked way too disheveled compared to this place, but Catra was too tired to care.

They checked in and a guy came up to them to take their baggage to their room. Catra couldn’t wait to see how comfy the bed was and how fast she would pass out.

However, her reverie was interrupted by a group of people talking loudly while getting out of the elevator but suddenly stopping, making everything fall quiet again. When Catra turned her head towards the elevator, all of her tiredness slipped away.

There, frozen on the lounge, was Adora. The rest of the friend group was there too but Catra was too stunned to look. Her eyes had locked on ocean ones that she knew so well and had thought that would never see again. And they were locked on hers too.

_ Adora is here. In the same hotel as me. _

_ Fuck my life. _

Suddenly, Entrapta broke the silence - “Hey! People from high school! Hello!” 

“Uh, hi!” said Crop Top, who was just a bit taller now “I-I… Wow! You guys are here!” 

He was obviously feigning excitement, but Scorpia and Entrapta didn’t seem to notice “Yeah! And you guys are here too!” Scorpia said, stepping closer to them “Gosh, this is such a nice coincidence!”

They continued talking as someone gave Catra their room key. When she turned her attention back to them, she noticed that Adora still had her eyes on her.

“Wait… Catra?” someone asked, and Catra looked at them. Surprise took over her.

“Sparkles?” she asked. Glimmer was different, taller. Her hair was still pink, but it seemed much healthier now compared to when they were in school.

“Yup.” Glimmer said, popping the ‘p’ “Man, you really made me miss you. There was no one to pick a fight with at college.”

Catra laughed lightly “Well, in that case, I missed you too, Glitter.”

“What are you guys doing here?” Perfuma asked. She looked the same, just a bit more hipster “Is it a work trip or a vacation?”

“Vacation!” answered Scorpia enthusiastically “We needed to take a break from all the busy work, ya know?”

“Well, since you’ll have time… Would you guys like to hang out? With us?” Perfuma asked, receiving an ugly look from some of them. Not Adora though, she was still staring at Catra with her mouth shut.

“Yeah!” agreed Bow “We could go to the beach together! Or to the mall! Oh you guys need to check out the pool in here!”

“Can we make plans tomorrow?” asked Glimmer “We can see each other at breakfast.”

“Yeah, we really need some sleep right now.” said Catra, putting a hand on Entrapta’s back so that she went to the elevator.

“Okay, see you guys tomorrow!” Bow and Perfuma waved at them with a huge smile as they entered the elevator. Glimmer and the others waved too, but with a small, awkward smile. When Catra looked at Adora for a last time, she was met with the same frozen look. Panicking, she gave the blonde a small smile before the door closed.

_ What the fuck, Catra?! You smiled?! She hates you! _

_ Fuck. My. Life. _

Entrapta and Scorpia were talking something about tomorrow but Catra had zoned out.

Adora is here. After 6 years, they saw each other again. They’ll probably hang out tomorrow.

_ No, I can’t do that. There’s no way I can handle spending time with her after everything. _

The doors opened and they stepped out, quickly finding room 802 and opening the door. It wasn’t really a room, more like a tiny apartment. There was a living room attached to the tiny kitchen and a small balcony on the left side and three suites on the right. It was very pretty, the walls had a yellowish tone and the table and couch were very similar to the ones in the lounge. Walking to the nearest bedroom, Catra could see that the bed was very big, with the comfiest looking comforter. Her’s was the only room to have a window, which was also big.

She sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the starry sky, still trying her best to process today’s mess.

She heard a knock on her door and turned to see Scorpia leaning against it.

“You okay, Wildcat?” she asked, worry in her eyes.

“Yeah, I guess.” Catra lied “Just… Surprised.”

“Look, I know it’s gonna be weird, but I think we really should hang out with them, y’know? They seemed okay with us.”

Catra was silent. She didn’t want to hang out with them, just the thought of it was enough to make her panic.

“And also,” continued Scorpia, with a knowing look and a small smile “I think it’d give you two the closure you needed.”

A few years ago, Catra would’ve screamed at Scorpia for touching this subject. But now she would only nod. After all, maybe Scorpia was right.

“Trapta already passed out and I’m headed to bed.” Scorpia straightened her posture, grabbing the doorknob “You should rest too.”

As the door closed, Catra went to the bathroom. It was small, but it had a big sink and a big tub. She considered taking a bath now, but she decided against it. She really should sleep as soon as possible.

She brushed her teeth, loosened her ponytail and put on her pajamas, throwing herself on the bed. She closed her eyes and evened her breathing, but she knew sleep would come much later.

She tossed and turned for about an hour, still not falling asleep even though she was very tired. She was getting angry now, so she got up and pulled a loose sweater over her pajama’s tank top, put her hair up in a messy bun and walked to the kitchen. After she grabbed a bottle of soda that Scorpia had bought and put on the fridge, she walked over to the window. She could see the pool from here, and Crop Top was right to mention it, it was really nice.

Deciding she had nothing better to do, she went out of their room and caught the elevator. As the doors opened, she noticed that there weren’t many people apart from the employees. She walked in the same direction as one of them and found the entrance to the back of the hotel.

The pool was a big rectangle, taking up almost all the space of the lounge and around it were lots of chairs and tables. At night, it was all illuminated by tall lamps that reflected on the water. It was pretty relaxing, Catra thought, to spend time here.

“Couldn’t sleep too?” 

Chills ran down her spine.  _ Oh, no. _

She turned her head to the left and there she was - Adora was slowly walking towards her. Now Catra took her time to watch the blonde. The first thing that Catra noticed was that she looked nothing like the Adora she remembered from high school but resembled the Adora she knew from childhood. This Adora was taller and stronger, her muscles were visible through her long sleeve shirt. Her leg’s muscles were also bigger, her shorts not doing much to hide them. Her hair was in a half bun, almost as messy as Catra’s.

She was even more beautiful than before.

“Yeah.” Catra answered, forcing her eyes to fix on Adora’s.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Adora said as she got close “Thought I could relax by the pool.”

Catra started to get up “Oh, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t-”

“No!” Adora took hold of her wrist gently, stopping Catra “Please, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Heat rushed to Catra’s face “Oh… Okay.” 

They both sat in the chairs now, side by side. Both pretended to look at the pool, trying to not make this any more awkward.

“It’s good to see you, Catra.” Adora said after a while, still looking at the water.

“It is?” Catra asked. She was so scared of talking to Adora. She knew she had all the right to be angry at Catra, but it didn’t do anything to calm her anxious heart.

“Of course.” Adora answered, finally looking into mismatched eyes “I… I missed you.”

Catra couldn’t hold it anymore, she had to make right of this situation the best she could.

“Look, Adora…” she turned her head, facing the pool so Adora couldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes “I’ve wanted to say this for a while now, a-and, I know it’s very late but… I’m sorry. For everything I did to you after we fought. I really was a bitch during high school... I hope you can forgive me someday.”

A beat passed, then another, and Adora still hadn’t responded. Risking a look at the girl, Catra saw that Adora’s eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly opened.

“Y-You’re sorry?” she asked. Apparently, Adora was still as slow as always.

“Yes, I am. I know I should’ve done it before, but I just don’t want to keep bothering you and-”

“No, Catra.” Adora fully turned towards Catra now, holding a hand to her own chest “I’m the one who’s sorry. I-I ruined our friendship because I was an idiot!” her eyes were filled with tears now, and Catra heard a light quiver to her voice “You were right. All along, you were right. I wanted people to like for being someone I was not. I’m the only one who should apologize, Catra.” tears rolled down her cheeks now and she was staring directly into Catra’s eyes “I ruined our friendship, the best thing I had, because I was stupid.” 

Adora put her face in her hands and sighed heavily while Catra was just sitting there, trying to process everything.

“I know I don’t really deserve your forgiveness. But still, I’m s-so  _ sorry...”  _

“Adora.” Catra put her hand on the blonde’s shoulder, which made her whip her head to look at Catra’s face “You did hurt me then, a lot. But I understand that you were afraid of being bullied again an-”

“That still doesn’t mean I needed to be so mean to you.” Adora interrupted her, she was still crying.

“Yeah, let me finish.” Catra closed her eyes and sighed. She had to talk about this with Adora “I understand that we were young,” she stole a glance at Adora “and  _ very _ stupid. But it’s in the past now. Moping about it won’t change anything.”

Adora straightened her posture, shooting Catra a small smile. Catra smiled back.

“Okay, we both want to apologize for our mistakes.” Catra said “I accept your apology. Do you accept mine?”

“Don’t even think you need to apologize, Catra.” Adora said, shaking her head. Catra rolled her eyes but kept her smile.“So... I have a question.” Adora said, rubbing her neck.

“Yes?” Catra stared at her, noticing that Adora’s cheeks, who were much paler than Catra’s, were pink.

“I wanted to… Wanted us to… I-If it’s okay with you - I mean, only if you want right? I don’t want to force you to anything… I…”

“Spit it out, Adora.”

“What can I do to rebuild our friendship?” she asked “I know it might be hard, and awkward, but I mean it, I miss you.” she looked at Catra with something Catra didn’t recognize in her gaze “I want to have my friend in my life again.”

If Catra blinked, she would cry.

“I don’t know.” she answered “I guess, the only thing that we can do is give each other a chance.” Catra looked down, her cheeks were also pink “I want to try to be friends again.”

Adora smiled and was about to say something when her phone rang. She turned it off, but the person called again right after. Adora huffed, clicking on the green button and saying “Stop calling, I’ll come back soon.” and ended the call.

Catra took it as her clue and got up from the chair “Well then, I should get going.”

“Can I, uh, take you there?” Adora asked, she looked very nervous.

“Sure.” Catra said, fumbling with the end of her lilac sweater.

“Cool!” Adora got up and Catra had a heart attack.

Now that they both stood up close, Catra noticed that Adora was really tall now. If Catra got closer, her head would reach Adora’s chin.  _ What did she fucking eat? _

“I see you haven’t grown much since school.” Adora said with a smirk “Middle school.”

“Hah hah hah.” Catra fake laughed as they walked side by side “Not everybody turned into a lamppost, Adora.”

“Hey, I’m not that tall.” she said as Catra pushed the 8 button and Adora pushed 11 “I might be tall for gremlin measures though.”

“Are you kidding me?” Catra looked at her angrily as Adora laughed. 

_ Oh how she had missed that dumb laugh. _

“Careful or I’ll beat you up.”

“What’re you gonna do? Kick my knee?” Adora laughed even harder at her own joke.

“Shut up, idiot!” Catra was beet red, trying her best to suppress a smile.

Suddenly, the doors opened. Catra looked at Adora “Well, goodnight dork.”

Before she could turn around though, Adora wrapped her in a tight hug. Catra’s eyes widened, her body froze as she was squeezed by powerful arms around her waist. The hairs on her neck rose as Adora sucked a deep breath.

“Sorry, I just really missed this.” Adora said, almost a whisper.

This time, Catra moved, wrapping her arms around Adora’s neck, squeezing back “Me too, dummy.”

Adora chuckled, resting her forehead on Catra’s shoulder. They stayed like that for long seconds, until Adora loosened her hold and put Catra’s feet on the ground again. “Good night.” she said, her blue eyes boring into Catra’s.

“Good night, Adora.” the doors closed and Catra made her way back to room 802. She closed the door quietly, walking straight to her room and climbing into the comforter. She didn’t bother to take off her sweater. It smelled like Adora now.

She slept through the whole night.


	3. under the sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra's gay panic starts again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everybody!!

Catra woke up to a knock on her door, which burst open suddenly.

“Catra! Come on! If we wanna use our time in the most efficient way we have to get up now, take a 5 minute shower and go downstairs to have breakfast, leaving before eight am.” Entrapta said, looking around Catra’s suite.

“Wait, it’s eight am?” Catra asked, voice still raspy from sleep.

“No, I said we should leave before eight am. It’s around seven now.”

“URGH! What’s the point of going on vacation if I have to wake up early here too?!” Catra lifted the covers to her head. Maybe hiding will make Entrapta give up and let her sleep.

“Rise and shine, Wildcat!” Scorpia entered the room and pulled the covers harshly, uncovering Catra completely “We have a loooong day ahead of us!”

Catra reluctantly got up from her bed and marched to the bathroom. She didn’t have a single peaceful moment, urgh.

After the bath woke her up, the memories from last night came crashing to her mind. She sniffed her sweater to check and, fortunately, it still smelled like Adora. Not that she cared, though.

She cracked a smile as she put her hair back and put on a red crop top with high waisted jean shorts. She considered putting on her converse, but decided for the dark flip flops. 

They descended to the lounge right on time to match Entrapta’s schedule. There, they spotted a bigger hallway that led to a cafeteria-like place where they could have breakfast. There was a big table with a buffet, but Catra picked up a simple ham sandwich and a cup of coffee from the tiny machine.

Scorpia spotted Perfuma and a blue haired girl who seemed very bored. Perfuma waved for them to go sit with her, but the table only had four chairs.

“Catra!” she looked over at Adora who was a couple tables away, with Glimmer and Bow in front of her.

“Over here!” Bow waved at her.  _ Well, that’ll have to do. _

She pushed down her anxieties and sat beside Adora, putting her plate down.

“Good morning guys.” she said, trying to avoid Adora’s stare. It’s too early for this.

“Good morning.” they all answered in different tones. Glimmer seemed as if she had been dragged here and Bow was as happy as always. Adora, on the other hand, was on the edge of her seat, looking like a seven year old who was about to go to Disneyland.

“I’m SO excited for our first day here!” the blonde said, taking a big bite of her massive sandwich “I can’t wait to go to the beach.”

“You guys arrived yesterday too?” Catra asked. She felt Adora’s leg bouncing up and down between them.

“Yup.” Bow answered “We checked in sometime in the afternoon though. So we had time to enjoy the pool already.”

“Yeah, the pool’s really cool.” Catra said, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Been to the pool too, Catra?” Glimmer asked, smiling behind her own cup. Catra’s cheeks went pink.  _ The bitch knows. _

Adora got flustered too, apparently, since her leg started bouncing even faster. Catra put a hand on her knee, stopping her movements. Adora quickly whipped her head towards Catra with an embarrassed expression.

“Yeah, I did.” Catra answered “But I didn’t spend as much time there as I wanted to.”

Glimmer smiled wider and the two of them took another sip of their cups.

“W-Well,” Adora started, still a bit flustered “I think you’ll like the beach more, Catra.”

“Hell yeah!” Bow cheered “The beaches here are amazing! Even just sitting there is a great experience.”

“Good, ‘cause I can’t swim.”

“I can teach you.” Adora blurted out and immediately went red. Glimmer snorted, hiding her smile by biting into a cookie. Bow just looked at her very confused.

“Don’t bother. It’s kind of an impossible mission.” Catra said, trying not to think about Adora’s arms holding her while she floats in the water.

“Well, I never back away from a challenge.” Adora said, taking the last big bite of her breakfast  _ “Canwegonow?”  _ she asked, her voice muffled by her stuffed cheeks.

“Wait a little, Adora. And chew your food!” Glimmer scolded her, who slumped her shoulders and sat back on her chair “You’ll have to wait for the others.”

“There’s still plenty of time. Trapta said we should leave by eight.” Catra said.

“Entrapta made a schedule?” Bow asked.

“I think so, she always does when we go out. A vacation wouldn't be different.”

“Why did she make a schedule?” Glimmer asked with furrowed brows.

“She just does, that’s how she is.” Catra justified.

“She was always very… Organized, right?” Glimmer said. Catra thought that by ‘organized’ Glimmer meant ‘weird’, but decided not to comment.

“Entrapta is the most intelligent person I know. She has her own habits.” Catra answered, finishing her breakfast “She always makes a daily schedule when we are at work. I think it’s very useful.”

“You work together?” Adora asked. She had her elbow on the table and was supporting her head with her hand, her whole body turned towards Catra.

“Yeah. We started a business together last year. We have our own office.”

“Oooh that’s so cool!” Adora straightened up, again looking like an overly excited kid.

“It is! What do you do, exactly?” asked Bow.

“She’s an engineer and I’m an architect. We work on projects together.” Catra said, feeling a bit shy about having all eyes on her “It’s still small. This kind of thing takes time, y’know.”

“But you’re extremely talented Catra.” Adora said “Your business will grow in no time.”

“How do you know? You’ve never seen one of our projects.”

Adora went red for the 100th time that morning, making it impossible for Catra not to smile. Thankfully for the blonde, a guy with a mustache -  _ is that Sebastian? _ \- came to their table announcing that they should leave soon before walking to the blue haired girl, who groaned as he approached.

“Yayyy!” Adora cheered, standing up “C’mon!” she grabbed Catra’s forearm and pulled her up. She didn’t loosen her grip until she sat on the lounge’s couch and dragged Catra to sit down beside her. The brunette felt her blood rush to her face, trying her best to hide it with her hand. 

The rest of the group soon joined them. They all sat on a semi-circle to think through their options.

“So,” started Bow “I think that today’s a good day to hit the beach.” at that, Adora cheered quietly, making Catra chuckle “We can spend the whole day there and go to a restaurant at night. What do you think?” Everyone agreed, and Entrapta added:

“My research shows that the best place to go is the beach at the east of the island. As we are a big group, it’s best we go to a not so frequented one.” she was holding her tablet and her phone at the same time, speaking loudly “Also, the bars around it have wi-fi!”

“Great, let’s go already.” Frosta, a girl that was a bit younger than the rest of the group, groaned while putting on her sunglasses. Catra didn’t remember her from school, so she had no idea what she was like.

“Wait a bit, Frosta.” Perfuma got up from her chair besides Scorpia “We have to go get our stuff, do a check and see who’s going with who in which car.”

Everyone dispersed to go get ready for the beach. At their room, Catra put on her red bikini, one she had not worn yet, and put on the same t-shirt and shorts from before. She packed her stuff into a small backpack she had brought and looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.  _ Maybe Adora would notice her new bikini… _

_ Oh my god, shut the fuck up!  _ \- Catra reprimented herself.

Scorpia and Entrapta waited in the living room. Entrapta had put on a purple swimsuit and let her long hair down in a braid - her hair and her swimsuit matched in color, and Catra had a knack that she had done it on purpose. Scorpia also wore a swimsuit, but hers was black and let almost her whole back exposed. She also had a huge donut float in hand, but Catra decided not to comment.

They went down the stairs straight to the parking lot entrance, where they met the others. “Great, you’re here.” Glimmer greeted, putting a couple of chairs on the trunk of a white van “Can you take other people in your car?”

“Sure can!” Scorpia said, putting the huge donut in the back of her truck “Who’s going with us?”

“Me!” Perfuma said way too excitedly. She realized that her tone had been eager and blushed, soon adding “And Frosta.” she pulled the small girl to her side.

“Okey-dokey! Get in!” Scorpia opened the door for them, and the five women got in. Catra was in the front with Scorpia while the others were on the back. Entrapta opened her tablet to show where they should go to get to the beach and gave it to Catra. 

Her window was in front of the van’s big one. Looking at it, she noticed it was kind of an old vehicle, but very well restored.

“What’re you setting the van up for?” she asked Glimmer and Bow, who were by her side, putting stuff in the van “Solving mysteries?”

Bow laughed while Glimmer rolled her eyes “Sure, solving the mystery about where your hairbrush went.”

She was about to say it was up her ass when Adora intervened - “I think Catra’s hair looks beautiful.”

Catra went red, but recomposed herself quickly, saying “Which is something yours isn’t, Glitter.”

“It’s Glim- URGH, you know what, whatever.” she gave up, getting into the passenger’s seat while Bow, Adora and Catra laughed.

Soon everyone was ready to leave. They took off together and followed a 20 minute journey to the east of Mystacor Island. This part was filled with giant rocks that were big enough to build a house, Catra noticed. It was beautiful, especially with the sun shining like this.

Scorpia and Perfuma didn’t shut up for almost all of the ride, putting on cheesy songs that only they seemed to love. Entrapta didn’t even notice, as she was playing games on her phone, but Catra and Frosta were about to burst. When another love song ended, Catra said “Let’s let Frosta choose one this time, girls.” she passed the phone connected to the car to Frosta, who lit up immediately. Then, she murmured so just the small girl could listen “But please, not another ballad.”

Frosta nodded, holding the phone. She ended up putting an electronic song that muffled mostly of Perfuma and Scorpia’s chat about cacti. Thank Goodness.

They arrived at the beach just as the others were getting out of the van. Sea Hawk (she had no idea why Sebastian insisted to be called that and she was never going to ask) took off running towards the sea, with Bow trailing behind him. They all set up their beach umbrellas in a point that was near the sea and near a bar at the same time. Catra laid her yoke on the ground and was about to put on sunscreen when Adora came up to her and said “Hey Catra, uh, can you put it on my back, please?”

She had a big amount of sunscreen plastered on her nose, much more than necessary. So Catra reached up and fixed it, spreading some of it on her cheeks and jaw. She looked into Adora’s eyes, who were fixed on her face. “Sure.” she said, before grabbing the bottle from Adora’s hand “Turn around.”

The blonde did as she was told, and Catra was facing Adora’s muscled back. Now that she was wearing only a sports bra and shorts, Catra noticed how much Adora had changed style-wise. During high school, she was always trying to be girly and stylish, and it didn’t match Adora, not the real one that Catra knew so well. Now, she seemed much more confident, dressed simply but with a strong posture. Very much Adora.

She passed her hands through hard muscles, feeling some of them twitch at her touch. When she reached the small of Adora’s back, she looked up at the blonde’s head and noticed that her ears were red, visible because of her ponytail.  _ Maybe she’s too shy about me touching her, I’m gonna hurry up.  _

Catra finished quickly, tapping Adora on the shoulder so she would turn around. As the blonde did so, Catra pulled down her shorts in a quick motion. “Can you put it on mine too?” she asked, taking off her shirt. When she looked at Adora, she was facing somewhere down Catra’s face with a harsh blush on her cheeks. Catra looked down at herself “Is there something in me?”

Adora finally looked into her eyes, coughing a little. “Uh, n-no. Not at all. I was just-” she cleared her throat loudly “Was just checking if the sides were tied right. Which they are.”

Catra hummed in response and turned her back to Adora. Then, she felt Adora’s hands on her, noticing that Adora’s left hand alone covered the small of her back, and the thought of it made Catra’s heart flutter. 

She felt tiny compared to Adora, like she was standing next to a pillar. But that didn’t make her feel diminished, on the contrary. For the first time in years, she felt safe around Adora, the girl that she tried so hard to hate.

“Um, I’m done.” she said and Catra turned. They were very close like this, their feet almost touching. Catra didn’t know if she should move backwards, but she felt frozen on the spot. “I meant it, you know?”

“W-What?” Catra asked, furrowing her brows at Adora.

“Your hair.” she answered, staring deeply into her eyes “I really like it like this.”

Catra gave her a small smile. “I’m glad you do.” Adora smiled back before turning around and running to the water. Catra pulled herself out of her trance, put on her sunglasses and laid on her yoke to sunbathe and closed her eyes. 

Suddenly, someone said behind her “Can I lay here too? They are too loud over there.” it was the blue haired girl - Mermista, Catra remembered. She had her own yoke under her arm and square sunglasses in her face.

“Yeah, sure.” Catra answered, watching Mermista lay by her side.

Mermista was quiet for a while, until she grabbed a package of candy from her small purse and shared it with Catra. They started to talk and Catra found out that Mermista was also a big fan of the Mer-Mystery books. They ended up talking about it for hours, only stopping when it was lunch time.

Glimmer called all of them to the bar, where they ordered fries, sandwiches and a salad for Perfuma. They also ordered a couple of drinks, and Catra joked “Careful, or Adora is going to go crazy again.”

Adora whipped her head towards her “You remember?” she asked, eyes widening.

“Duh.” Catra said, grabbing her own drink “You almost threw up on me once. Disgusting.” 

While the others laughed and continued their conversations, Adora was still looking at Catra with a surprised expression. She didn’t know why she was surprised, but didn’t ask anything. She probably didn’t remember that Catra stumbled upon her those two times. 

After lunch, they stayed sitting under the umbrellas talking. Even Entrapta was participating. She didn’t expect that they would get along with the people they used to fight with at school, but she was happy they did.

When they went back to what they were doing before, Mermista told Catra that she would go to the water with Sea Hawk, so Catra laid face down to continue sunbathing. She was almost dozing off when she felt someone lay down beside her, turning her head to face Adora, who was already staring at her.

“Hey, Adora. I thought you would keep swimming with Sparkles and Crop Top.” she said, tucking her face in the crook of her own elbow.

“I was going to, but you look lonely over here.” Adora said, smirking “So I thought you would enjoy my cheerful presence.”

“My day was saved.” Catra joked and they both chuckled. They talked about nothing for a couple of minutes until Catra noticed she was talking to herself - Adora had fallen asleep with her mouth open, just like when they were kids. The image made Catra’s chest fill with warmth. She knew she missed Adora deeply, but now that she had her by her side Catra noticed that the hole in her chest was patched up. As if Adora’s mere presence soothed that hurting.

Soon enough, she fell asleep too.

They were woken up half an hour later by Entrapta, who was saying that they would be heading back. She looked at the horizon and saw that the sun was about to set. Adora got up and offered her hand to help Catra. She took it and stood up, bringing her yoke with her. Adora caressed her knuckles before pulling back quickly. Catra’s brain went blank.

They walked side by side to help the other pack and, by the time they were finished it was already dark. The same 5 women got into Scorpia’s car, heading back to the hotel with Bow’s van trailing behind. They didn’t talk much during this ride, as most of them were pretty tired from spending the whole day in the water. Frosta and Entrapta were about to fall asleep, their heads hanging to the side. But the most interesting thing that Catra noticed was that Perfuma was stealing glances at Scorpia at every five seconds, without noticing that Catra could see it through the tiny mirror. She smiled to herself,  _ that  _ she did not see coming.

They got back to the hotel and entered together. When they were in front of the big elevators, Bow said “Well, most of us are pretty tired, so I guess we’ll have to go to a restaurant on another day.” Catra looked around and saw that almost everyone was with hooded eyes and slumped shoulders except for her and Adora, who had slept at the beach.

The elevator wasn’t big enough for all of them, so Glimmer, Frosta, Entrapta, Adora and Catra stayed behind to go afterwards. Adora stood beside her sneaking glances and little smiles that Catra returned.  _ She’s so cute.  _

When she turned her head to her right, she saw that Glimmer was watching them with narrowed eyes and a mischievous smile. Catra went red and whipped her head to face the wall. She felt Adora nudge on her ribs and, when she looked at her, Adora’s eyebrows lifted and she looked at Catra with a worried expression. It was something they used to do as teenagers - anytime they wanted to know if the other was okay, they lifted their eyebrows and waited for a nod or a shake of the head. It was a silent way to reassure each other.

Catra nodded once and saw Adora’s face relax. The elevator opened right then and they stepped in. “What’re gonna do tomorrow?” Frosta asked through a yawn. She and Entrapta hadn’t noticed her interaction with Adora, only Sparkles did.

“I believe we’ll all go to the pool tomorrow in the afternoon.” Entrapta said “Sea Hawk suggested we rent a boat, but judging by Mermista’s face that wasn’t a very good idea.”

“Hell no.” Glimmer said “Sea Hawk put a boat on fire before. We do NOT need to go through it again.”

“How did he set a boat on fire?” Catra asked.

“Eh, long story.” Adora said “I’ll tell you another day.”

The doors opened at the 8th floor and Entrapta dragged her by the arm. “Good night everyone!” she said without looking back at them. Catra turned her head to wave.

“Good night!” Glimmer said as Adora waved back, a small smile on her face. Frosta was sleeping with her head on the wall.

She went to her room to get ready to bed after grabbing a slice of pizza that Scorpia had bought at the bar before they left the beach. Later, as she lay under the covers, she picked up her phone and browsed through Instagram. She saw that someone had followed her and checked it, surprised to see Adora’s name in there. 

After Catra unfollowed her that time during New Year’s, Adora also unfollowed her and Catra never went back to her profile, too scared to see something that would make her sad. Now, as she looked through it, she was met with pictures of places and a couple of dorky selfies. Most of those were at the gym or at what looked like her home, and they all had the same angle - her left arm was holding her phone, catching the left side of her face and she was smiling with her closed mouth. Some of those selfies featured a big dog with white fur. One of the posts was a picture of her hugging this dog and the caption said:

_ Spending the weekend with my bestest friend Swiftie <3 _

Catra blushed at the cuteness of the picture. She was glad that Adora hadn’t lost her dorkiness.

She followed Adora back and closed her phone, falling asleep feeling relaxed and giddy. 


	4. wildcat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora gets more awkward. Catra panics (as usual).

She woke up as the sunlight hit the wall opposite her. It was early, she noticed, so she would be able to sleep a little more. She picked up her phone from under her pillow, looking through her notifications. She saw that she had a message on her Insta dm. From Adora.

Suddenly, her sleepiness went out the window.

The message read:

_ What’s your room number? _

It was sent 10 minutes ago, at 5h55. She answered:

_ 802 _

_ Why?? _

She waited for a response, but Adora just read the messages and went offline. Catra sat up on her bed, confused. _ Did something happen to Adora? Did she want to talk to me about something? Oh no… Maybe she realized that I had been a horrible person and is mad at me. What should I do?! _

Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from the living room and what she thought was Entrapta’s voice. Before she could get up, someone knocked on her door.

“Come in.” she said, voice still weird from sleep.

Adora entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her quickly.”Hey Adora.” she said through a yawn. When Catra saw her shoulders, she gasped. “What the fuck happened to you, dummy?”

Adora stood frozen in front of her door and Catra noticed that her face was just as red as her shoulders. “I got sunburnt.” the blonde answered in a small voice.

“Yeah, no shit.” Catra pushed the covers aside and sat on her knees at the edge of her bed “How could you let yourself burn your face and your shoulders?”

“It’s just my shoulders.” Adora said with her brows furrowed.

“Hate to disagree. Your face is also red.”

Adora’s eyebrows shot to the ceiling and, incredibly, she got even redder.

“Do you want me to help you with your burns?” Catra asked, getting up from her bed and grabbing her backpack “I think I have a lotion that will soothe it.”

“Y-Yeah. I hoped you could help me.”

She found the lotion and motioned for Adora to sit on the bed. Catra settled behind her, kneeling again so she was the same height as her. “You have to be more careful Adora.”

“I know, I’m sorry- Argh!” she hissed as Catra started to apply the lotion on her left shoulder.

“Sorry! Sorry! I’ll do it slow.” Catra apologized, touching her more gently.

“S’Okay.” Adora stayed quiet for a while, until she said “I hoped I could get a tan like you, but I guess I failed.”

Catra laughed, pushing the collar of her t-shirt aside and moving to her other shoulder. “I didn’t even get that tanned.”

“Yes you did.” Adora turned her body a little so she could reach behind and touch Catra’s shoulder lightly “I can see all of your freckles now.” 

Catra went rigid as Adora retrieved her hand. She must’ve noticed and turned her back to Catra again, only murmuring a quiet “It’s really pretty.”

Catra smiled, finishing with the lotion “Thanks.” 

It wasn’t often that somebody would compliment her appearance. Growing up, she was a bit quirky-looking. Her hair covered her face too much, and her arms and legs growed in disproportion. She knew she was prettier now, but the majority of ‘compliments’ she would get would be catcalls from disgusting men on the street. However, Adora always had thought that Catra was pretty and constantly told her that. Catra didn’t understand why Adora insisted on doing so, since she felt like Adora’s compliments were way too flattering to be directed to her.

“All done.” she said as she got up from behind Adora. “Do me a favor and don’t get burned again, will you?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Adora made a poor attempt at continence, making Catra laugh. “Do you wanna grab breakfast?” she asked, avoiding Catra’s eyes.

“Sure,” Catra answered, grabbing some clothes from her baggages “just let me get dressed okay?”

“Yup, I’ll, uh, wait over there.” she closed the door behind her with a bang “Sorry!” she said, voice muffled by the door.

Catra laughed again.  _ What a dork. _

She put on her light blue jeans and a green crop top. She found Adora and Entrapta talking in the living room - well, it was actually Entrapta ranting about her post-grad course and Adora trying her best to understand what she was saying. As she spotted Catra, her face lit up.

“Let’s go?” Adora asked, offering her arm for Catra to take.

“What? Are you taking me to breakfast or to a fancy dinner?” Catra joked.

“N-No, uh- I just w-wanted, uh-” Catra cut Adora’s embarrassed rambling by snatching her arm with her own. With their elbows crossed, Catra dragged Adora to the buffet. 

“Did you sleep well?” asked Adora, with a whole cookie in her mouth. They had already sat at a table there.

“Yeah, I did.” Catra answered, surprised by the question “And you?”

“I had a dream about you!” Adora said and Catra blushed.

“W-What was it about?”

“Well, we were on this crazy spaceship, in space.” Adora gesticulated wildly as she told her dream story “We even had spacesuits on! Anyways, that’s not the point. We were being attacked by some alien white guy with dreadlocks-.”

“Ew.”

“Exactly! And he had a whole army and they attacked me and shot me on my shoulders.” at the word ‘shot’ Adora made two finger guns and went ‘pew pew’ “So I fell and you caught me. Later on the ship, you healed my wounds by the power of kissing it better.” Catra laughed soundly as Adora’s cheeks went pink “But when I woke up I realized that I hadn't been shot, just sunburnt.”

“Wow.” Catra said, still breathless from laughing “You’re very creative.” she lifted her cup of coffee and stared into Adora’s eyes “Guess I helped you the wrong way then.”

“What do you mean?” Adora asked, crooking her head to the side.

“I should’ve kissed it better.”

Adora went beet red from her ears to her toenails, and Catra cackled.

After her laughter died down, she noticed that Adora had a dopey smile on her face as well as doe eyes. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I really missed making you laugh.” she said, her expression still soft. Catra saw herself mirroring it, with a dopey grin of her own. “Catra,” Adora started, taking Catra’s hand that was resting on the table on her own “I think we should-”

“There they are!” someone said in a loud voice behind them and scaring Catra, who pulled her hand to her lap. “We were looking for you.” said Bow. Glimmer and Scorpia were by his side.

“What?” Adora asked dryly, her soft self slipped away.

“We wanted to know if you guys were still up for the pool?” Bow said, sitting at Adora’s side.

Scorpia sat by Catra’s, saying “Wildcat, you’re gonna love the pool! There’s plenty of space for my donut there!”

“Wildcat?” Adora asked, looking at Scorpia with an eyebrow raised.

“It’s an old nickname that I gave her!” Scorpia explained. By the corner of her eye, Catra saw Glimmer dragging a chair to the end of the table. She noticed that Catra was looking and shot the girl a ‘I’m sorry’ smile, to which Catra responded with a little shrug.

“Okay, yeah.” Adora continued. She now had her arms crossed and her posture was straight, almost defensive. “But why?”

“Ah, because  _ Cat _ -ra and because she’s wild. Well, at least she was during high school.” Scorpia explained, appearing unfazed by Adora’s coldness.

“Hey! I’m still wild!” Catra defended herself, turning towards Scorpia. “I’m just as bad as I was during high school!”

“Meh, sorry Catra.” Glimmer said, with amusement in her eyes “I guess you’ve grown soft.”

“Fuck no, I didn’t!” 

“Yes, you did.” Scorpia said “Remember when we watched that kids movie about that Coco guy and you cried on my shoulder through the whole ending?”

Everyone was laughing now except for Catra, who was failing to prove she was still tough, and Adora, who was…  _ Is she pouting? _

“Coco is the grandma! And please, everybody cries with that movie!”

“You can’t deny it, Wildcat.” Scorpia put her hands on Catra’s shoulders, squeezing “You’re all soft now.”

Catra stole a glance at Adora, who was staring at her empty plate, her mind far away from the conversation.  _ Did I say something wrong? _

That afternoon, they spent hours on the pool. Swimming, talking, drinking, drowning each other. Catra even got on the huge donut! Scorpia was euphoric, much so that, when she tried to push Catra to the other side of the pool, she ended up using too much strength and Catra fell off of it in a majestic fall.

Although, Catra didn’t enjoy it as much as she should’ve since every time she looked at Adora, the blonde had a weird expression and was being awkward around her - not talking much and only shooting small smiles at Catra. A voice in the back of Catra’s mind kept saying that she had done something extremely wrong and now Adora hated her. She despised this idea, but she couldn’t reassure herself.

Before Catra could push her aside to talk to her, she announced that she would head inside to shower, leaving with nothing more than a small wave. Five minutes after she left, Catra couldn’t take it anymore. She found Glimmer and asked her what room she was in. “She’s in 1135 with me and Bow. Her bedroom is the one on the right.” she said as she gave Catra her keys “Oh, and Catra…” she towards Glimmer again, who put a hand on her shoulder “Don’t worry too much, okay. She gets like that when she’s… Frustrated.”

Catra was confused, but nodded anyway, leaving to get to the elevators. Before she went to Adora’s room, she decided to take a quick bath. She didn’t want to be smelling like chlorine when she went to talk to Adora. After her shower, she put on a dark blue dress that stopped mid thigh and went to room 1135.

When she got in, it was completely silent. It wasn’t so different from her own room, but theirs seemed a bit bigger. Catra noticed that the kitchen was bigger and there were two doors that led to the suites.

She followed the instructions Glimmer gave her and went to the door on the right, opening it after knocking. Catra heard the soft noise of the water running and sat at the end of Adora’s bed to wait for her. Adora’s bedroom was bigger, she noticed - the bed was the same as Catra’s but she had two nightstands instead of one and had a TV too.

Not long after, the bedroom door opened, and Adora got out wearing a white t-shirt with jeans, her wet hair falling down her back, longer than Catra’s ever seen.

When she saw Catra, she let out a scream, almost falling backwards.

“Catra! W-What are you doing here?!”

“I wanted to talk to you, but if it’s not okay right now I can come anoth-”

“No!” Adora recomposed herself, evening her breathing and sitting besides Catra “No, I’ll talk to you. Did something happen?”

“I don’t know.” Catra said “I was meaning to ask you the same thing.”

“W-What do you mean?” Adora had her brows furrowed and her mouth turned downwards. 

“You were okay earlier, but after breakfast you were acting super weird and awkward with me.” Catra was avoiding Adora’s eyes, trying not to let her panic show through her words “D-Did I say something wrong? Are you mad at me?”

“What? No! Of course I’m not mad at you, Catra.” Adora said. Then, she rubbed her neck. “I was just… I don’t know. It’s really dumb.” Adora said, tilting her face downwards “You’re gonna get mad at me.”

“I will not.” she grabbed Adora’s chin, lifting her head so they were face to face “Spill it.”

“When I gave you a nickname, you didn’t like it.” Adora confessed, blushing in embarrassment. At Catra’s confused expression, Adora explained “When we were younger, I called you Cat and Kitty Cat, but you hated it. But you let Scorpia call you Wildcat. Which is not as cute.” she added the last part in a whisper. “And, I guess I also got a bit… Jealous…?” Catra lifted an eyebrow at her, so she explained “I just keep thinking that you’ll get mad at me because of the past and then I’ll lose you again.” Adora’s face was very red right now “I told you, it’s silly.”

Catra laughed and Adora blushed even more. “Adora, first of all, you do know that you were the one that started calling me ‘Catra’, right? Which is basically my name by now.”

“I know that, but it’s different.” Adora huffed, crossing her arms “It’s not a cute nickname, like Kitty Cat. But somehow  _ Wildcat  _ was okay with you.”

“Argh…” Catra sighed and took Adora’s hands in hers “Fine, from now on, you can call me any nickname you want.”

Adora beamed, her smile taking up almost her whole face “Really?! Any nickname?!”

“Yes really.” Catra confirmed “But only when we’re alone!”

“Deal!” Adora beamed. Catra squeezed her fingers and focused her stare on their joined hands.

“And about that silly thing…” Catra continued “I’m not mad anymore, okay? All that pent up rage went away years ago. Seriously, I went to therapy.” Adora chuckled lightly, and Catra tilted her head to look at her - Adora had her eyes fixed on Catra’s face, making the brunette shy with the intensity of her gaze “I said I’m gonna give a chance to our friendship, and I’m doing it. No more getting angry and pouting by myself.” 

Adora hugged her, circling her arms around Catra’s waist. Catra hugged back, enjoying the warmth of Adora’s body.

They didn’t let go, staying at the foot of the bed for what felt like hours, until Catra spoke again. 

“I get jealous too.” Catra confessed, and Adora lifted her eyebrow “I do. Sparkles and Crop Top seem to know you way better than me now. Also… I guess I’m still afraid that you’re going to see that I was horrible to you and you’re gonna go back to them, away from me.”

Adora hugged her again, and Catra felt her shoulders shake a little bit.

“Catra,” her voice was wavering. She was crying. “You’re an amazing person, and an amazing friend. I always thought that of you.” Catra was beginning to cry too “And I hated every second that I was apart from you, especially when I pretended to hate you. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, Adora.” Catra sniffed, hugging the blonde impossibly tighter “I hated it too.”

They stayed there talking about their regrets and apologizing until Adora’s belly grumbled, making Catra laugh. “Do you want to eat dinner with me?” Adora asked, taking Catra’s hand and pulling her to the kitchen.

“Oh, so you’re finally taking me to that fancy dinner?” Catra asked, squeezing Adora’s hand.

Adora squeezed back. “If you think cup noodles are fancy then yes, I am.”

Catra felt as if her heart was floating in her chest. Too happy to think about anything else except Adora.


	5. your touch messes with my head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora being gay disasters feat. Baby Yoda

After her conversation with Adora, they got closer and closer each passing day. Catra felt as if they were getting back to their old habits of when they were still kids. They even had an inside joke now! 

Adora seemed to be happy too, Catra noticed. She had returned to her excited self, but now she told Catra her silly dad jokes, tickled her and, most importantly, touched Catra all the time. She was always a touchy person, Catra remembers it from their childhood - eight year old Adora spent the day hanging around little Catra’s neck. But after so many years of rivalry and then complete silence, Catra was unused to the physical affection, but was extremely glad that it was part of their friendship again.

Their hugs and conversations had made wonders to their new bond, and the fact that they were both willing to apologize and talk about their feelings made a big difference. Her therapist would be proud.

The others had also apologized too, for Catra’s surprise. Now that they were functioning adults, everyone seemed to agree that they had been awfully stupid in the past and wanted to be friends for real now. Scorpia and Entrapta were very excited with the prospect of making new friends, and the three of them were actually getting along with everyone.

A week had passed since that night after the pool, and Catra was getting ready to go to the mall with everybody when Glimmer appeared on her door.

“Hey, Sparkles.” she greeted as the pink haired girl entered her room “What’s up?”

“Hey. Nothing much, just wanted to check on you.” Glimmer answered, sitting on her bed and crossing her legs.

Catra looked at her with suspicious eyes. “What are you plotting?”

“Me? How could you-” Catra lifted one eyebrow and Glimmer groaned “Urgh! Fine! I am plotting, but it’s for your own good.”

“Since when do you care for my own good?” Catra asked as she slipped into her high waisted shorts.

“Look, we started wrong in high school, I know that. We were dumb teenagers that were fighting instead of talking through their feelings-”

“Well, someone’s been to therapy.” Catra joked and got a t-shirt thrown at her face.

“What I’m trying to say is… Sorry, for being so stubborn and bitchy at school.”

“Yeah, well. That little speech you gave me really did make a bad impression. I remember I got really mad that Adora had sent you to yell at me.”

“Catra… Adora didn’t send me.”

Catra looked at her, her striped t-shirt curled around her neck. “What?”

“I went there on my own. I thought you had done something really bad to her because of how sad she looked every time someone mentioned you.” Glimmer explained “She was the one who yelled at me after.”

Catra froze. She always thought that Adora had sent Glimmer so that she would feel bad and apologize.

“Wow. I never knew that.” Catra said as she finished getting dressed. She sat besides Glimmer to put her converse on “And I’m sorry too. I was also bitchy, especially to you.”

“Apology accepted.” Glimmer said “Although, I’m glad you made prom shine. It was the day Bow confessed to me, when he was taking glitter out of my hair.”

They laughed “You’re welcome Sparkles. Anyways, what’s your evil plan?”

“Oh, I’m helping you get together with Adora.”

“WHAT?!” Catra yelled, standing up “W-WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!”

“What? That you like her?” Glimmer asked, scoffing “Catra, it’s in your face.”

“I don’t like her.” Catra crossed her arms.

“Uh-huh. Well, you pretend that’s true and I pretend I believe it. Anyways, Adora is obviously head over heels for you, but she’s too dumb to try something, so…”

“WHAT?! A-Adora doesn’t like _ like _ me! Are you crazy? She’s straight!”

“Oh my God.” Glimmer gaped “You’re just as dumb.”

“SHUT UP!”

“Okay! Okay! Fine, my plan is: we’re going to the mall today, so I lied to Adora saying that there’s a special store that sells special bottles-”

“Are you serious? She fell for that?”

“Shush!” Glimmer continued “Anyways, I told her my dad needs one desperately and I’ll be too busy with Bow and the others, so she’ll go look for it for me. And she will certainly ask for you to go with her, since you’re joined at the hip now.” Catra blushed “And that’s your chance to be gal pals.”

“Well, I have to admit Sparkles.” Catra said, watching Glimmer beam “That’s a shitty plan.”

“What?! Urgh! It’ll work.” she got up from the bed and stopped at the door “I guess you’ll have to see.” she walked out. From the living room, Catra heard she say “And hurry up! I wanna get there early!”

A couple minutes later, Catra, Scorpia and Entrapta went to the parking lot to meet with the others. When they were close enough to be spotted, Adora yelled “Catra!” and came rushing to hug the brunette, who was, as always, blushing awkwardly. Adora let go of her and, as she went to open the door of Scorpia’s car, Glimmer popped out of thin air to say:

“Nuh-uh, Bow and I are going with Scorpia today.” she had her arm linked with Bow’s “Adora is driving the van and you will go with her,  _ Wildcat.” _

_ This bitch… _

Catra made an angry face at Glimmer, who only grinned back, like a maniac. She walked towards the van’s passenger’s seat with Adora trailing close behind. There, she noticed that most of the group was already seated and talking loudly with one another. Hopefully, she could have a conversation with Adora without these dumbasses interrupting. Adora got in the car, smiling at Catra. She was wearing a green flowery shirt tucked into mom jeans, her hair in the same half bun style as the first time they saw each other (in six years, that is).

“You know,” Catra said to her as she started the engine “I really like it when your hair is down.” she paused, looking at the window instead “You look pretty.”

_ Pretty amazing. Pretty Wonderful. Pretty much you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. _

“Thanks.” Adora said “You look pretty today too.” Catra turned to her, smiling “N-Not that you’re not pretty on other days. You’re always pretty. Not t-that I keep looking to check out your face. Or anything. I-I just know it-”

“Thanks, Adora. I understood.” Catra said, getting her face close to Adora’s shoulder “Careful, people might think that you  _ like _ me.”

The car suddenly jolted as Adora fumbled with the steering wheel. “SORRY! SO SORRY!” she yelled at the people in the back, who were groaning.

Catra laughed at her. Her ears were all red and she huffed in annoyance, a little smile betraying her façade.

“So,” Adora started “Glimmer wants me to leave her and Bow alone today, do you wanna come with me?”

Catra froze. “What?”

“She asked me to go to some store that sells bottles, but I know she’s lying. She wants me to leave so I don’t have to third wheel on her date with Bow. She’s been doing that for years now.”

“But, if you know she’s lying, why are you going along with it?”

“Because I figured I could use this excuse to spend time with you.” she put her hand on Catra’s knee, eyes fixed on the road “Alone.”

Catra's whole system had shut down.

_ Holy fuck. _

“Okay.” was all Catra answered. Her brain couldn’t process more than that.

Adora’s hand stayed on her knee through the whole ride. Catra pretended not to notice.

They had arrived at the mall and separated into small groups. Adora immediately grabbed Catra’s wrist and pulled the girl with her towards the food court. Adora bought them burgers and they ate together, talking about their colleges. Catra learned that Adora had gone to nursing school and was working in a big hospital near Catra’s office. She also learned that she had gotten Swift Wind, her dog, as a present from her mother Hope. Hope was supposed to keep the dog to herself, but she gave up after a couple weeks. After Mara’s death, Adora’s other mom, Hope kind of secluded herself from the rest of the world.

Adora was happy to hear that Catra had not seen Shadow in all those years and that Lonnie was living with Kyle and Rogelio in an apartment in the city’s center. It was nice to catch up with each other’s lives after so long…

Afterwards, Adora took her to an arcade, where she challenged Catra to play all the games. The loser would have to do anything the winner asked. Catra, competitive as always, accepted and gave her all to defeat the blonde. 

They danced, shot zombies, drove cars, and always ended in a tie. Now, there was only one game left: the plushie machine. 

“Are you ready to lose, Kitty Cat?” Adora asked, looking at Catra with a killing stare.

“In your dreams, princess.” Catra answered, putting her ticket in the machine. It played a little jingle and the claw went to life. Catra calculated her every movement, her target settled on the Baby Yoda plushie, which was turned to the side. She turned to the left, then to the right. Then left, then right. She centered it right above Yoda’s little head, and pushed the button. The claw reached down, it’s mechanical fingers opening and closing right on their small forehead and ascended, as Baby Yoda still laid sadly between the other plushies.

“AHA! LOSER!” Adora poked Catra’s ribs. The brunette huffed, shaking the machine in anger. “Step aside, peasant!” Adora bumped her hip with Catra’s making her stumble to the side “I’m gonna show you how it’s done.”

She did the same things Catra did, following almost every movement the other made. Except, she paused an inch beside their head. She pushed the button and the claw went down once again. However, this time its fingers grasped Baby Yoda’s ear and, to Catra’s dismay, pulled the plushie with it.

“YES! HAHAHAHAHAH!” Adora cheered, shaking Catra’s shoulders “You’re a loser!”

“Yeah, yeah. WHATEVER. Like I care.” Catra pouted, turning her back to her friend. Suddenly, two arms surrounded her middle, the cute plushie in hands. She felt Adora’s head settle on her right shoulder, her breath tingling Catra’s ear.

“Here,” she put the plushie on Catra’s hands “I want you to have it.”

Catra grabbed the plushie, turning around and stepping back to look at Adora’s face. “How noble of you. It’s really starting to look like you like me.”

Adora smiled softly, a light blush painting her cheeks. “Maybe I do.”

Catra’s eyes widened, but she quickly smiled and grabbed Adora’s elbow. “C’mon.” she said, turning Adora and walking away, Baby Yoda cradled in her other arm “I want to show my new child to Sparkles.”

That night, when they had already returned to the hotel, Adora sat beside Catra on the lounge’s couch. “I’ve decided what I want you to do for me. As, you know, you’re a loser, you can't say no.”

“Hmpf.” Catra huffed “Spill it.”

“You and I are going to have a fancy dinner on friday.” she said, looking at Catra with sparkles in her blue eyes.

“Really? What about those cup noodles I had in your kitchen? I liked them.”

“Yup!” her expression changed to one of regret, and she added “Well, I really miss hanging out with you, and I wanted to do something nice.” Catra nodded. She felt her heart beating fast and her ears getting red. “Well, I wanted to make it up to you. So we’ll go out, have fun and then when we come back, we can watch Avatar.”

Catra smiled, leaning her head on Adora’s shoulder. “Okay.” she said.

Adora sneaked her arm around Catra’s back, her hand stopping on her hip. “It’s a date then.” she murmured, nosing Catra’s head.

After staying like that for another thirty minutes, Catra straightened herself. “It’s late, I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Oh.” Adora retreated her arm “Good night, then.”

“Good night. Oh,” Catra leaned in again, kissing Adora’s cheek “thanks for the plushie. It was very nice of you.”

Adora’s whole body went red, and her only answer was a ‘hmm’. Catra, pleased with herself, caught the elevator and went straight to her room. After such a long day, she expected to have a great night of sleep. However, as she laid in her bed, sleep was far away from her. But instead of getting irritated, another emotion took over her body: hornyness.

Her mind wandered back to when Adora’s hand touched her knee and when her arms circled her waist. She sneaked a hand into her pajama shorts, finding her underwear wet. She pushed it aside, thinking about how Adora’s lips must feel softer than her cheeks. She started circling her entrance in a slow pace, hearing slick sounds from her movements. She wondered how good her lips would feel against hers, how their tongues would dance together - she moved to her clit now, rubbing at it. 

Then, her thoughts went deeper, bringing back her memories from when they had sleepovers, Adora would wake up with a boner, and Catra would pretend not to see it. If Adora’s hands gave any indication, Adora’s dick might be bigger than she thought.

“Ah- _ ah… _ ” she moaned quietly to herself, fastening the movement of her fingers. Her two fingers rubbed fast on her bud, her hips struggling to meet the increasing pace.

Adora was so much bigger than Catra. And she was so strong. Maybe she- “ _ Ah! hmm _ ” - she would feel so full if Adora- “AH!” 

She came, muffling her moans with her free hand. Then, her conscience caught up with her.  _ Oh no, I just got off thinking about my best friend. And I don’t even know if she’s is gay!  _

She curled up into a ball, turning to her right side. There, laying on the other pillow, was Baby Yoda, looking directly at her.

“Don’t judge me!” she pushed the plushie and it fell down to the floor.


	6. under the stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra thinks she doesn't deserve good things, so Adora is there to prove her wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wan't going to uptade until tomorrow, but fuck it.  
> Happy New Year!!!! Really hope 2021 is at least a bit less shitty than 2020

When Catra woke up, she was immediately hit by memories of the night before and her feelings of guilt. She couldn’t help the way she felt about Adora, but acting on it made her feel guilty, dumb even. Adora never saw her like that, Catra was nothing more than a friend to her. This has always hurt Catra, and it is no different now.

Catra remembered what Shadow had said all those years ago - _you better settle for scraps._ When it came to Adora, maybe she should, she can’t risk losing her again just because of her selfishness.

She got up and took a long bath, taking her time to wash away her bad mood. Later, she brushed her curls - her hair had changed drastically over the years. After she cut it during a breakdown on first year, she kept it short until college and as it grew, her hair became much softer. Before, a hairbrush would entangle itself in her mane, but now as she thread her fingers through it, they slide between the strands in a swift motion. Scorpia might be right, she is soft.

Today (thursday), the group planned going to a local fair and later hit the beach again, so Catra put on a black tank top and her ripped jeans, keeping her hair up in a ponytail. She noticed that after so many days under the hot sun, her skin had tanned quickly and now her freckles were prominent, all over her body. The ones on her cheeks and shoulders were the most noticeable - as she looked at them, her mind betrayed her by reviving the memory of Adora’s fingers touching them softly that day after the beach.

She drew in a deep breath, recomposing herself and pushing down her thoughts about her friend. She walked to the living room to find Scorpia and Entrapta doing…? Is that a friendship bracelet?

“Hey,” she greeted them, sitting on the couch while they sat on the floor “watcha doin’?”

“Hi Wildcat!” Scorpia said with a huge smile on her face “Perfuma told me she really likes hand-made stuff, so yesterday I bought these beads to make a bracelet for her. Entrapta’s helping me because I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I’ve already watched two tutorials on youtube!” Entrapta said, pointing two fingers to make emphasis “This work will be almost professional!”

“Great, she’s gonna love it Scorp.” Catra said, a wicked smile forming on her face “Are you gonna ask her out with it?”

Scorpia turned as red as her shirt. Catra was well aware of her shyness and awkwardness, after all, they kinda dated during high school. Catra was always the one who initiated everything, she knew the big girl didn’t have courage to ask for anything. That’s why she never asked Catra to be her girlfriend officially, and Catra never asked her because of her own irreplaceable feelings for-

She stopped herself, bringing her attention back to her friend’s blushed face.

“D-Do you think she would want to go out? With m-me?”

“Weren’t you already going out?” Entrapta asked, to which Scorpia answered with a shake of her head “Oh, given the display of physical affection between the two of you, I figured you already were.”

“See?” Catra put her hand on her friend’s shoulder “You have nothing to worry about. She likes you too.”

“Well,” continued Entrapta “if Scorpia and Perfuma’s display of affection does not signify that they are dating, then I assume that I was also wrong about Adora and Catra’s romantic relationship.”

“What?!” Catra widened her eyes at her friend “We are _not_ dating!”

“But you have feelings for each other, right?”

“I don’t like Adora!” 

“Oh, but she likes you.” Entrapta said, head crooked to the side.

“NO!” Catra drew in another deep breath, calming herself down “Entrapta, the only people that are dating are Sparkles and Crop Top and Mermista and Sea Hawk. Scorpia and Perfuma like each other. _I_ do not like anyone.”

“Oh, okay.” Entrapta stood up and went to the kitchen counter in quick steps, the previous conversation already at the back of her mind. She lifted a box of frozen lasagna and asked “Who wants lunch?”

  
  


The group wandered through the different tents of the fair, each one selling a variety of products, most of them completely useless, but extremely tempting. Catra found herself eyeing a mini wood statue of Appa, the Avatar’s sky bison - she didn’t need it, obviously. But it was so cute.

She didn’t buy it though, because before she could, Bow grabbed her arm and dragged her over the other side of the fair so she could see a couple puppies that were up for adoption.

Suddenly, she felt someone behind her and a hand on her shoulder. Adora was admiring the little puppies, her voice right beside Catra’s ear. The brunette slowly detached herself from her and scampered off quickly, pretending to be interested in another tent. It was at least the fourth time she did this today.

Later, Adora found her - Catra wasn’t avoiding her, but she had forced herself to be more distant until she could calm her inner turmoil down -, she went up to her and said:

“C’mon, I wanna show you something.” she took hold of Catra’s wrist and pulled her away from the fair. They ended up a street away from the last tents, on a small space with a fountain in the center. It was beautiful, especially now that the winds were getting stronger, so the water was moving with its strength.

“It’s… Really pretty, Adora.” she said, not looking into the girl's eyes.

“Yeah, it is.” she let Catra’s wrist go, but her hand soon returned with something in it. Catra looked down and found mini Appa in her hand. “I saw you looking at it, so I bought it for you.”

Catra’s heart clenched, _why did she have to be so kind?_

“You’re giving me way too many gifts.” she said, holding the wooden statue close to her chest.

“You deserve lots of gifts, Catra.” Adora said. She was still avoiding her eyes.

“Well, I don’t feel like it.” Catra said, voice almost a whisper, but Adora heard it anyway (of course she did).

She felt a strong hand on her bicep, turning her around. “Catra, look at me.” She did, shivers running down her spine as she met blue eyes with a hard, intense gaze “Why are you acting like this?”

“I don’t know what you’re talki-”

“Yes. You do.” Adora’s expression faltered, worry appearing on her features “Did I come on too strong? I guess I got excited…”

“What?” Catra looked at her with furrowed brows.

“Look, if I made you uncomfortable, you don’t need to go out with me on friday. It’s okay-”

“Adora,” a thunder rumbled at the distance and the wind whipped around them “what do you mean?”

Adora cupped Catra’s face, brushing a couple of loose strands of hair back into her ponytail “I think you know what I mean.”

Catra felt her heart beating fast, uncertainty and fear fluttering in her chest. Right then, as Adora’s nose was almost touching Catra’s, the rain came, pouring mercilessly over them. Catra took it as her cue and stepped back from Adora and ran towards the fair, the small statue clutched fiercely in her grasp.

She thought she heard the blonde calling out her name, but she ignored it. She can’t handle it, it’s way too much. As she got to Scorpia’s car, she noticed she was shaking and that her eyes burned with tears. She opened the door to the backseat, her hair dripping over the cushions.

“Catra?” Scorpia asked, and she turned to look - Scorpia and Perfuma were in the front while Entrapta sat beside her. All of them watched her with concern in their eyes.

“I’m fine,” she answered, turning to look at the window “just wanna go back.”

Scorpia turned on the engine and took off, not waiting for the van to follow. No one said anything, thankfully. Sometime during the ride, Entrapta reached for her and took her hand. Catra smiled at her friend, letting a single tear escape.

They got to the hotel quickly, the four of them getting out of the car together and all heading to room 802. There, Catra took a quick shower to warm up, putting on her blue dress to feel lighter.

“Catra?” Perfuma called from the other side of the door “Can I come in?”

Catra opened the door, smiling weakly at Perfuma as the tall woman entered the suite. She sat on the bed and patted the space beside her, urging Catra to sit. As she did, Perfuma turned to look into her eyes. “Catra, you seem to have something bothering you, and I’m sensing great anxiety in your aura. You don’t need to talk to me, but if you want to, I’d be happy to listen.”

Catra felt her walls break down, looking at Perfuma as tears threatened to spill “I-I guess I’m just… S-Scared.”

Perfuma put her arm around Catra’s shoulders, comforting her. “Is your fear related to Adora?”

Catra only nodded, feeling her cheeks getting damp “Catra, relationships, in any shape or form, are complicated. They are never going to be easy or perfect. So you must take risks to keep them going. I understand you’re afraid, it’s hard not to be, but everything would be easier if you let yourself be vulnerable and try to take what you want, even if it won’t last forever.”

“I-I just don’t w-want that to happen again.” Catra said.

“And ‘that’ means…?”

“We fought in high school and said horrible things to each other. I tried to keep her with me, we were supposed to be best friends. B-But she left, and I pushed her away. I can’t let it happen again.”

“Catra, that happened when you two were teenagers. You didn’t know how to handle all your feelings and nor did Adora. But you’re adults now, you’ll have to trust the both of you to make the right choices. Closing yourself off won’t do you any good.” she pulled away from the embrace so they were face to face and put her hand above Catra’s. When she looked at the blonde’s wrist, she saw the bracelet that Scorpia had made, with the beads crumpled together clumsily “I believe you are strong enough to do this, Catra. You’ll just have to believe in yourself too.”

“You’re really nice, Flower Girl.” Catra smiled. Suddenly, she was engulfed in a bear hug.

“Okay, I’m gonna leave you alone now.” she got up from the bed, turning to the door “Let me know if you sort your feelings out, alright?”

“Will do.” Catra said as Perfuma closed the door.

She was right. Catra was afraid, but she had to face Adora anyway. If she wanted to have her best friend back, she must be honest about her feelings - even if it meant losing her again. She had to try.

She picked up her phone and unplugged the charger, noticing the notification of a text message. It was from Adora, sent twenty minutes ago.

_Can we talk?_

Catra calmed her shaking hands and typed:

_Yes_

She threw her phone on the bed, her nervousness getting the best of her. Almost immediately she heard a ping, signaling that Adora had responded. She threw herself on the bed, fishing for her phone.

_Okay_

_I’ll wait for you by the pool._

Catra got up from her bed and slid on her flip flops. Now or never.

As she entered the pool lounge, she noticed that the clouds had vanished, leaving the sky clear for everyone to see the beautiful stars across it. Near the water, Adora sat on a chair, waiting for her. Catra felt a strong deja vú at the scene.

Upon spotting Catra, Adora straightened her posture but avoided Catra’s eyes.

She sat beside her friend. “Hey, Adora.”

“Hey.” Adora greeted weekly. “I just wanted to know… Are you mad at me?” Adora looked at her and Catra noticed that her blue eyes were glistening. “I didn’t want to make you upset, it was silly of me to try something without asking-”

“No, Adora.” Catra sighed, covering her face with her hands. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just scared.”

“Scared?” Adora asked “Of what?”

“I-I…” Catra looked at Adora, moving her arms to hug herself “I’m scared that you’ll leave me again.” she felt tears start to trail down her cheeks “I’m scared that I’ll let myself want a-and give and then someday you… You’ll see that you deserve better and you’ll leave.”

“Catra, I could never do that.” Adora got closer, pulling Catra’s face in her hands “I left before because I made a mistake, and I regret it.” she brushed her tears away, her touch soft and sweet “But, Catra… You are all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Really?” Catra asked, her heart doing backflips.

“Really. It took me a while to figure out, but when I realized I was in love with you, it was too late.” Adora said, moving one hand to caress Catra’s side.

“Y-You were in love with me?” Catra asked, her mismatched eyes wide.

“I _am_ in love with you.” Adora said, chuckling slightly, the blush on her cheeks was painfilly obvious. “I can only hope you at least like me a little now.”

Catra giggled, wrapping her arms around Adora’s shoulders. “Adora, it’s always been you.” she paused, watching Adora’s cheeks redden “Dummy.”

They both laughed, and Adora pulled Catra into a big hug. She returned it with all her strength, feeling her own heartbeat mingle with Adora’s. Then, Adora asked “Catra, can I kiss you?”

Catra pulled away from Adora’s shoulder, facing the blonde and nodding. Adora’s eyes sparkled and she crashed their lips together.

Catra’s chest burst with fireworks, the air leaving her body. Adora’s lips fit perfectly with hers, and they moved together in sync. Adora’s hands were touching her gently, her embrace still tight. They pulled away for air, and she said “You’re perfect, Catra.” she pecked her lips, caressing her cheek “I always wanted you.”

Something in Catra sparked to life - Adora _wanted_ her. No one’s ever wanted her. She grabbed the blonde’s face and kissed her harder, feeling Adora groan into the kiss. She brushed her tongue against her bottom lip and Adora gave her entrance. When their tongues met, they both sighed, pulling each other closer. She thread her fingers through Adora’s hair, ruining her ponytail. 

When they pulled away, their eyes met and they burst into laughter, their foreheads resting together. Adora pulled her into her lap with little effort, and Catra nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “You promise to tell me whenever you feel upset?” Adora asked.

“I promise.” Catra said, intertwining their fingers together.

They spent a long time by the pool, holding each other tightly and stealing kisses, until it was very late and they had to return to their rooms. Hand in hand, they walked to the elevator. “You know…” Adora started as the mechanical doors closed “I think Glimmer bet on us.”

“Pfft. What a surprise.” Catra said “How much?”

“I have no idea. But I overheard Bow talking to her and saying that ‘you shouldn’t put money on Adora’s feelings!’”

Catra laughed loudly, putting a hand on Adora’s forearm “We have to make her lose.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Adora said as the doors opened on the eighth floor. She turned to Catra “Well, I guess I’ll… See you tomorrow? G-Good night? Heh” she made finger guns at Catra, who resisted the urge to laugh. Instead, she grabbed Adora’s shirt and pulled her in for a filthy kiss, feeling the blonde’s knees buckle.

“Good night, dork.” she said as they parted, giving Adora’s chest a small push and walked slowly to her door. She heard Adora whisper ‘Wow…’ before the doors closed.

_I can’t believe I’m in love with her._

She froze as another thought crept into her mind.

_And she’s in love with me._


	7. by the ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As she had promised, Adora takes Catra on a fancy date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw // minor spoilers for ATLA's third book, if you haven't watched

Entrapta’s voice was the first thing she heard when she woke up. Her friend was in a very excited conversation with Scorpia, who wasn’t yelling that much. Catra groaned, she had hoped to be able to sleep more on friday, but apparently that wouldn't happen. She picked up her phone and opened her text messages, seeing that Adora had sent a couple of them in the last hour.

_ Hey, u up? _

_ Pls tell me you are _

_ I’m super bored :( _

_ I wanted to go on a walk with you today, if you were up to it _

_ Just to spend time _

_ Together _

_ You now :) _

_ But seriously pls wake up  _

_ I miss you </3 _

Catra laughed fondly, this dork.

Last night was definitely one of the best nights of her life.  _ Adora likes me. _

She couldn’t contain the huge smile that crept in her face, getting up and changing quickly. As she put her hair in a bun and walked into the living room, she was surprised with the sight of Entrapta fumbling with the hotel’s TV, which she had taken out of its place in the wall and was now resting on the table.

“Good morning Catra! I’m fixing the TV!” Entrapta said, sparing a quick look and a wave at the brunette.

“Nice.” was all Catra said. That wasn’t the first time Entrapta fixed electronics from random places and they always turned out better after she finished. So there was no need to stop her. “Where’s Scorpia?” 

“She went out with Perfuma to get a ‘healthy breakfast’ at some café.” Entrapta said, changing the small cables inside the TV “I think she won’t be back so soon, but don’t you worry! I already had breakfast!”

“Okay, then I’m gonna go downstairs to eat,” Catra said, opening her door and grabbing her sunglasses “call me if you need anything.”

She heard Entrapta hum in response as she closed the door. On the elevator, she typed a message to Adora:

_ I’m up _

_ See u at breakfast _

_? _

Immediately, Adora responded:

_ I’m waiting for you here _

_ <3 _

Catra chuckled, Adora was such a dork. She put her phone, sunglasses and her keys in her overall’s big pocket to free her hands.  _ Hm, I see why Entrapta likes this thing. _

The doors opened and she stepped out, looking around the lounge for any sign of Adora. She spotted her leaning on a nearby wall, focused on something on her phone.

Catra approached her slowly, not making any sound. As she got close enough to the blonde, she said “Hey Adora.”

Adora jumped, her phone almost falling out of her hand as she looked at Catra with her eyes wide. However, the surprise was soon replaced with excitement, as Adora tackled Catra into a bear hug.

“Good morning Catra!” she said. She pulled away slightly, staring at Catra with a bit of uncertainty before kissing her softly. Catra kissed her back, her heart fluttering in her chest. 

They pulled apart, giggling and walking to get something to eat “How did you sleep?” Adora asked her.

“Alright. Entrapta woke me up with the noise of her tinkering with the hotel’s TV.”

Adora’s brows knit together “Can she do that?”

“I’m pretty sure she can’t but no one is going to stop her, so.” Catra shrugged, grabbing a croissant and finding a two chair table for them at the back of the room. Adora sat in front of her, clearing her throat.

“So,” the blonde started, staring at Catra with a cocky grin on her face “ready for our date tonight?”

“Ha!” Catra laughed “Of course I am, princess. Though I am more excited to get back and binge Avatar.”

“Hey, I thought the best part would be to spend time with me.” Adora said, pouting.

Catra rolled her eyes “Adora, don’t be sappy. Don’t go around thinking I  _ like  _ you.”

“Oh, no! I don’t think that.” Adora said, leaning her head on her hand “Because I know you’re in love with me.”

Catra went beet red, making an angry face at Adora who was cackling and calling the attention of the other tables.

Even though Catra would never admit it, she spent the whole day thinking about their date. She had no idea where Adora would take her but, knowing her, it would be something simple, like those kinds of restaurants they used to frequent when they were teens. Near the evening, Adora had sent her a message saying that she should wear the fanciest thing she had, which left Catra pacing around her room with all her clothes sprawled across the big bed. 

She liked to think that she was a stylish woman, but she never knew how fancy she had to dress -  _ is a dress too much? Would jeans be too simple? Do I have to wear a bra?  _

She ended up sending pictures to her sister, asking what she thought was the best option. However, instead of receiving a message in response, Lonnie called her.

“Where are you going?” asked Lonnie before Catra could say hi.

“Nowhere. Just choose one.”

“Nuh-uh.” Lonnie said “You NEVER ask for someone’s opinion on your clothes. This is important.” Catra groaned, of course Lonnie would want a backstory “Spit it out.”

Catra told her about the last weeks and how she and Adora had confessed their feelings yesterday. Lonnie just listened through it all, only speaking when Catra was finished.

“Okay, but like, you know you like each other, you’re going on a date, you’ve kissed already… Are you dating?” she asked.

“What? No.” Catra said “We’re just going out, I guess.”

“Catra, please.” Lonnie said and Catra could almost see her rolling her eyes “We both know Adora was never a hook-up and leave kind of person. Besides, I assume she really likes you because, you know, you two looked like you were married since you were thirteen-”

“Where are you going with this Lonnie?” Catra asked, she was starting to get frustrated.

“What I’m trying to tell you is that you shouldn’t hold back with her.” Lonnie’s voice was softer now “You always let fear get to you before you even start a relationship, but Adora is different. You guys have history. Don’t let these things come in your way, okay?”

Catra closed her eyes, breathing deeply.  _ Lonnie was right _ “Okay.”

“You deserve something nice, sis. And Adora does too.”

Catra sat on the bed “Do you think I’m good enough for her?”

“Catra, you shouldn’t think of it this way. Love is complicated, sometimes you can’t question it. It just is. Look at Kyle, Rogelio and me! We can’t put none of it in words.” Lonnie sighed “If Adora wants you, then you’re enough.”

Catra let out a breath she was holding, smiling softly “Damn, the talk was really good. But you’re a shit helper.”

“Right, the clothes.” Lonnie laughed “I think you should go with the blue shirt and the cool pants.”

“Alright, your wish is an order.” Catra picked up the clothes, starting to head to the bathroom “Hey, Lonnie.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. Your pep talk is really good.”

“You’re damn right it is!”

After Catra had taken her bath and put on her clothes, she looked at herself in the big mirror. She was wearing a tight blue shirt with a lacy black bra underneath, tucked into black pants with no stripes in it and a pair of her fanciest boots. She gathered her hair in a ponytail, wondering if she should put on makeup - she wanted to look nicer, but it would cover her freckles and she knows Adora loves them. In the end, she decided against it, just putting on some perfume and heading out the door. She picked her phone from the nightstand, besides mini Appa and sent a message to Adora:

_ I’m ready to go. _

They didn’t tell anyone about the date because 1. They would be mercilessly teased; 2. They would be bombarded with questions; and 3. They wanted this to be just between the two of them. They’ve been apart for so long, it was nice sharing a secret that just they knew. Especially if this secret included lots of kissing and touching.

Adora had lied to everyone saying that she wanted to go to the institution that was putting those puppies up for adoption to get one and would have dinner by herself later. Incredibly, that was a believable enough excuse, and no one asked much about it. For Catra though, she didn’t say where she was going because, honestly, she never really did. Besides, the only person who saw her was Entrapta who only hummed when she said she would come back very late.

Adora told her to meet at the parking lot, since Scorpia lended the truck to her tonight - at the mention of puppies, Scorpia immediately agreed. When she got there, the air escaped from her lungs. 

Adora was in a red suit, which only accentuated the muscles of her legs. She was also wearing a white shirt that did nothing to hide her beautiful torso. And, on top of it all, her hair was down, she remembered Catra liked it that way.

Adora spotted Catra soon after, as she got close to the car. Adora’s eyes widened and a soft blush painted her cheeks. “Catra!” she greeted, walking towards the brunette “Y-You look… beautiful.”

Catra blushed, holding Adora’s forearms and leaning up to kiss her cheek. “C’mon dummy,” she said “let’s not get late.”

“Right, yes.” Adora held Catra’s hand and walked with her to the car’s door “I’m so excited!”

“Ha ha! You’d be excited if we went to eat hot dogs on the street, Adora.” Catra said as Adora got in and closed the door.

“True. But I’m mostly excited because I want to see your reaction.”

“Idiot.” Catra said, looking fondly at Adora.

“Oh, you love it.”

The car started and Adora kept her eyes on the road “You look beautiful too.” Catra said, avoiding Adora’s eyes in an attempt to hide the blush on her cheeks “You look really good in a suit.”

She heard Adora chuckle lightly before the blonde reached out and held her hand. When Catra looked at her, she saw that Adora was blushing too.

“I like it too. Better than dresses, at least.” Adora stated as they stopped by a red light, turning to look at Catra.

“It’s more like you.” Catra said. It was true, Adora had finally stopped trying to fit in and dressed in a way she truly liked and felt comfortable.

“Yeah, I know.” Adora squeezed her hand “Do you remember how I wore all those prickly clothes during high school?”

“How could I forget? All that pink really hurt my eyes.”

She and Adora laughed, then Adora sighed “It was very tiring… Trying to be someone I wasn’t.”

She had her eyes back on the road as the light turned green, but Catra still got a glimpse of her sad gaze. She brought their intertwined hands to her lips and kissed Adora’s knuckles as the blonde stared at her lovingly.

“I’m very proud of you for being yourself, Adora.” Catra added, resting their hands on her lap again “It makes me really happy to see you comfortable.”

Adora kept stealing glances at her, trying to stare at Catra and look ahead at the same time “Thanks, Cat. I’m happy to be comfortable, you know? With my body, I mean.”

“Well, just so you know, I always thought you were the hottest girl I’ve ever laid my eyes on.” Catra winked at Adora and laughed loudly at Adora’s flushed face.

Adora drove them for at least ten minutes until they got to one of the Island’s beaches, parking in front of a restaurant - the place looked fantastic! The building was made of wood and it had beautiful carvings on its pillars. The outside was illuminated by lamps that imitated torches, giving it a vintage kind of vibe. From what Catra could see, the inside was even prettier, with tables with candles in their center and fancy paintings on the walls. It was fancy, but still comfortable.

“Wow.” Catra said as she got out of the car “You really went off with this dinner, didn’t you princess?”

“Only the best for my girl.” Adora said, holding her arm out for Catra to hold. 

Catra won’t lie, hearing Adora say  _ my girl  _ like that made her shiver, but it was too soon to get horny. She took Adora’s arm and they walked together into the restaurant. In the reception, a woman greeted them. “Good evening, ladies.” she said, picking up a book from under her arm “Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes.” Adora said, looking as cocky as ever.  _ Adora made a fucking reservation? _ “My name is Adora Grayskull.”

“Ah, yes. Table for two.” the woman said, smiling big at them “Please, I’ll lead you to your table.”

They walked after her to the back of the restaurant. She presented them a table with two big chairs, a couple of tables at the center and a small pot with daisies.

Catra couldn’t believe her eyes. Adora had brought her to the most beautiful place in the Island. Her. Catra, who had never been to a place this fancy. 

As the receptionist went back to the front of the restaurant, Catra turned to Adora “Adora, you didn’t have to do this, you know?”

Adora looked at her with confusion in her eyes “Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean… This place looks a little expensive. You didn’t have to take me here. I would’ve been just as happy if we went to Subway or Pizza Hut.”

Adora chuckled “Catra, I know that. But I brought you here because I wanted to.” she looked at Catra fondly “Unless you want to get out of here and go to Pizza Hut?”

“No!” Catra said, which made Adora laugh more “I am happy to be here. I just don’t like it that you’re spending all this money on me.”

“Catra, first off: it’s my money. I’m an independent woman who is perfectly responsible to take care of myself and my money-”

“Adora, you can’t even make noodles proper-”

“Shh! Nothing to do with responsibility!” she said, lifting a finger. Then, she grabbed Catra’s hand from across the table “Second off: I wanted to do this for you. Because you’re important to me and I want us to have a nice night. Let yourself enjoy this as much as I am, okay?”

Catra was aware that she was blushing furiously, but she was too enamored to care. God she wanted Adora so bad. “Okay.”

Right then, a waiter came to their table to take their orders.

“Are you kidding me?” Catra asked, putting her drink down on the table “ _ I _ was your gay awakening?”

“Well, yeah.” Adora said, biting into another shrimp “I liked a couple of actresses and all, but I always thought that you were the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world.” she stopped chewing “I don’t know how  _ that  _ didn’t make me realize I am a lesbian.”

Catra laughed soundly, feeling her cheeks warm up - definitely because of the alcohol. “But when did you realize then?”

“At prom, after our dance.” Adora’s cocky smirk returned “You know you look really hot on a suit. That and when you held my hips I nearly had a heart attack.”

Catra laughed, but then she felt guilt creep into her chest. Apparently, it could reflect on her face too, because Adora noticed, saying “Nuh-uh. I know that look. You’ve apologized at least three times for these last weeks. And, honestly, prom wasn’t even that big of a deal. I just went because I wanted to see you.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know, exactly.” now it was Adora who got a saddened expression on her face “You were dating Scorpia then, and I remember watching you two every chance I got. I think I wanted to remind myself of my mistakes.”

“How so?” Catra asked, feeling her heartbeat getting faster. She knew Adora didn’t have healthy habits, especially before. But hearing that she beat herself up because of Catra caught her by surprise.

“It’s just…” she sighed, looking at Catra with a sad smile “I really wanted to be me instead of Scorpia. It took me a while to realize that I wasn’t just angry. I was jealous.” she straightened up a bit, drinking the last bit of her drink “I remember seeing you kiss her at that party in senior year, and I especially remember feeling angry at that. So I got super drunk and then you found me…” Catra remembers it vividly.

“It was hard, those years after we graduated, because I never saw you again and I had just found out that I had been in love with you. But it was all worth it.” she held Catra’s hand again, and Catra understood the message -  _ we are together now. _

“Adora….” Catra had no words. But she did have desires, though “I loved this dinner, really, but I want to be sappy and walk with you on the beach. How about that?”

Adora beamed, getting up from her chair and snatching Catra’s hand “I’d love that.”

Adora paid for their dinner, even though Catra insisted they split up, and they headed downwards, towards the beach. They had left their shoes on the truck so they could walk barefoot near the water. When the waves crashed in the distance, the water rose to a point, touching Catra’s toes.

“This is the best date I’ve ever had.” Catra said as she stared at the full moon “Not that I’ve had many to compare.”

Adora laughed “Well, I’m happy that you’re happy.” she squeezed their intertwined hands. Then, she lowered her head so Catra couldn’t see her face.  _ Was she shy?  _ “You know, I wanted to ask you… When did you know you liked me?”

Catra blushed at the memory, it was something she liked to recall “We were in middle school, and you had just hit your wrist during P.E, remember that?” Adora nodded, finally looking at Catra “Well, you had kept quiet through the rest of the class, but I knew something was off. Then, since it was our last class, you ran off to go home and I had to run after you a couple blocks behind. I was furious that you made me run so fast.” Adora laughed soundly, putting her hand on Catra’s arm “Well, when I got to your house, you were crying in your living room with a band aid in hands - you were always stupid you know?” at that, Adora said ‘shut up’ and hit her playfully “Anyways, I helped you put ice on it and massage it before Hope got home. It wasn’t broken or anything, you were just scared. But then it hit me: I never did this kind of thing for no one, but I was so protective of you. I wanted to take care of you. When I got home, I asked myself why was that? Then I realized that you were special to me, always had been.”

“Catra…” she turned to Adora, seeing that she had tears welled up in her eyes “That’s so beautiful.” she pulled Catra to her, hugging her with all her might. Catra hugged back, tucking her head in the crook of Adora’s neck.

“Oh, please. You knew I hated everything in the world except for you.” Catra said, earning a laugh from Adora.

“Yeah, you were quite the emo kid.” Adora said, dropping a kiss to Catra’s forehead.

They stayed embraced like that for a while. Feeling the water brushing their feet and the moonlight hitting their skin. This was the best feeling in the world, Catra thought.

“Catra,” Adora pulled back just a bit, cupping Catra’s cheek with her hand “can I kiss you?”

“You don’t need to ask, dummy.” Catra answered. Adora brought their lips together, kissing eagerly and deep, like she had not seen Catra in months. She bit Catra’s bottom lip making her gasp. Then, she slid her tongue into Catra’s mouth and made her see stars. Catra tried to bring them closer, pushing Adora’s torso to hers and clinging to her shoulders. Adora wrapped an arm around her back and lowered her head to kiss her cheek, then her jaw, then her neck…

_ “Ah, Adora…” _ Catra sighed, closing her eyes. The feeling of Adora’s lips kissing and nibbling her neck was inexplicably perfect. She wanted to feel like this everyday. 

Still eager, Catra hiked her leg up a bit, feeling Adora’s thick thing between her legs.  _ “Catra.”  _ Adora’s voice was low, a bit breathless from devouring Catra’s neck. Then, Catra felt something else near her abdomen and felt her cheeks redden. “Please, don’t move too much.” Adora said, moving to nibble Catra’s collarbone.

Catra chuckled slightly “I didn’t know I turned you on, Adora.” Adora huffed, head still buried near Catra’s chest “How embarrassing for you.”

Adora lifted her head, staring Catra down “You know I like you, Kitty Cat.” then, she kissed Catra again while running her hands up and down her waist.

They kept kissing and touching by the ocean for a little while until Adora decided it was too late and they needed to get back. Catra was… Frustrated, to say the least. She was so eager for Adora that she would’ve slept in the beach if it meant having the blond with her all night. But Adora proposed that she slept in her room today so they could watch Netflix, like she had proposed, and Catra agreed immediately.

They walked to the car with their arms on each other’s backs, only pulling apart to get to their seats properly. Through the whole drive, Adora’s hand was on her knee, drawing circles with the soft pad of her hand.

When they got there, Adora put her arm around Catra’s shoulder and led them to her room. She said Bow and Glimmer were fast asleep by now, as they usually slept pretty early. She got to the room and threw herself on the bed, sprawling her limbs and sighing. She was tired, that was obvious, but she wouldn’t let herself sleep until she got at least a little fun time with Adora.

She heard Adora picking up something from her bags, then she felt her whole weight above Catra.

“Argh! You’re gonna kill me!” Catra joked as Adora laughed. Then, the blonde started tickling her on the ribs which made her let out an embarrassed squeak.

“Get dressed, dummy, I wanna cuddle.”

“First of all, ‘dummy’ is my thing, okay?” Catra said as Adora got up “Second, get dressed in what?” Adora pointed to her side and Catra saw a big white t-shirt and boy shorts. When she looked at Adora again, she was with her back turned to Catra, taking off her suit and putting her tank top and shorts to sleep. Catra did the same, only throwing the boy shorts away, the shirt was already big enough. Both women got under the covers, gravitating towards each other. Catra sat up a little and Adora laid her head on her freckled shoulder, fumbling with the remote to put on the third book of ATLA. 

Through the episodes, Adora would kiss her knuckles, her shoulder, her neck, everywhere she could reach, and Catra would try her best to return the favor even though Adora seemed to be determined not to have so much fun with her.

_ Argh, guess my fun times will have to wait for tomorrow. _

They were on the 9th episode now, laughing as Aang had the craziest daydreams about the firelord. Then came the scene where he dreams about Katara, kissing her. She asks  _ ‘what are we doing?’ _ and he answers  _ ‘what our hearts have been telling us to do for a long, long time. _

_ Baby, you’re my forever girl.’ _

Catra and Adora laughed as the Avatar realized he had only been dreaming, but Catra’s mind had latched to what he had said. Maybe someday, Adora would want to be her forever girl.

But for now, Catra was happy just by being by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! So, the fic is nearing it's ending and I'd like to know what you guys think of it and what do you think it's gonna happen between these two idiots??  
> Thanks for reading!!❤❤


	8. fun times (kind of)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun times ensue, finally.  
> cw // smut

Catra woke up with the sunlight hitting her eyes. She fluttered them open, looking around her bedroom. Except, it’s not her bedroom, it’s Adora’s, she realized with a smile. Suddenly feeling the weight of a strong arm circling her waist. She caressed it lightly, feeling the muscles twitch before she felt Adora’s face settle on her shoulder.

“Hey…” Adora pecked her neck “You good?”

“Hey, Adora.” Catra brought Adora’s arms closer, snuggling her “After our fancy dinner, I think I’m pretty great.”

Adora groaned in response. Catra felt her stiffen and stop Catra’s movements. Catra tried to wiggle out of her grip, but Adora stopped her again “W-Wait, please…” she sighed “D-Don’t move.”

“What’s wrong?” Adora let her lose and she turned around. Adora had her face red and was avoiding Catra’s eyes.

“S-Sorry, I-I can’t help it.” Adora said quietly “Just let me go to the bathroom and I’ll-”

Catra looked down and spotted the problem. Adora had a hard on.

“Adora, don’t worry.” she said, pecking her lips and caressing her shoulders “It’s fine.” Adora’s blush went away a little. “Did you have a nice dream?”

“No, uh… You just wiggle a lot in your sleep.”

“Oh…” Catra smirked “So, I guess since I’m the cause of the problem,” she started lowering her hand slowly “I might help solve it, right?”

“Y-You don’t have to...” Adora stuttered, blush returning to her face.

“Adora, do you want me to? Because I do.”

Adora paused, looking between Catra’s eyes and her hand on Adora’s waistband. Then she fixed into her eyes and said a breathy _“Please.”_

Catra was more than happy to help, so she threw the covers aside and lowered her body. When she was on Adora’s hip, she pushed her shorts down while kissing her hip bones. Adora gasped, her body shook a little. Then, Catra lowered herself to face Adora’s hard member and noticed that she had been right - Adora was really big. She felt her panties dampen, but concentrated on Adora’s twitching cock. She latched her eyes into Adora’s, held her in her right hand and licked from the base to the tip. Adora whimpered, throwing her head back as Catra continued. She twirled her tongue around the shaft, then kissed the tip. By the way Adora’s body was reacting, she could tell that she was very worked up and wouldn’t last long. So she decided to stop the teasing and put the tip in her mouth, sucking lightly. 

“Ah! _Catraaa…”_ Adora moaned “Ah, you have - _hmm_ \- no idea how long I’ve wanted you to do this.”

Catra pulled back, a thread of saliva connecting her mouth to Adora’s cock “You think about me often, princess?” she asked before she put her mouth back and slid almost everything into it.

Adora covered her moans with her hand, then said “ _Yes! Ahh_ \- always think of you.” Catra hummed, bopping her head up and down and trying not to gag. She could, incredibly, fit almost the whole shaft into her mouth. “AH! Catra! _I-I’m gonna - AH!_ ” Adora moaned as she spilled inside Catra’s mouth. 

The brunette felt the hot spurts slide down her throat and swallow it eagerly, but there was too much, so her chin got drenched. Adora’s peak lasted long, and Catra did her best to lap it all up.

“Fuck, Catra…” Adora said, her chest heaving “C’mere.” Catra crawled up to her, cleaning her chin with the back of her hand before peppering kisses along her face. Adora turned to kiss her slow and deep. “You're so fucking hot.” she praised Catra, who shivered.

However, before the two lovebirds could continue to have fun, they heard a booming voice saying “Rise and Shine, Adora!” Catra entered her fight or flight mode and covered herself with the comforter, hiding. Right then, she heard the door open, and Bow continued to talk.

“How you doing sunshin- Adora, you okay? Your face is very red.”

“D-Don’t worry! I’m fine! Just got scared, that’s all.” Adora said, not convincing at all. However, Bow seemed to buy it.

“Well, you should be getting up now, ‘cause we are hitting the beach again!” he said. Catra heard his voice closer to the bed, so she didn’t move much. But, Catra is Catra, so of course she was going to make this awkward situation into something more fun.

She started kissing Adora’s thighs lightly, teasing the stuttering girl “C-Cool! I’ll b-be there, heh.” she said “Why don’t you and Glimmer go have break-breakfast and wait for me there.?”

“Okey-dokey.” Bow answered. Then, Catra bit the flesh there, sensing Adora’s whole body tense “Just don’t take too long!” his voice was further away now.

“I won’t!” Adora waited until they heard the door close to tear the comforter away from them, freeing Catra from the most comfortable hiding spot “What the fuck, Catra?!”

“What?” Catra tried not to laugh at Adora’s flustered face. She rose to sit beside Adora, staring into her blue eyes “Didn’t like it, princess?”

Adora nuzzled into her neck “I liked it too much. But you heard Bow, we have to get going.” she quickly sat up, pulling her shorts back on.

“But we can stay here for a little more.” Catra suggested, pressing her own thighs together “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind much.”

“Sorry, Catra. But really, we should get going.” Adora pressed a soft kiss to Catra’s pouting lips and got up from the bed “I’m gonna go shower, I’ll come to get you in your room in 10 minutes, okay?”

Catra only hummed in response, watching as the blonde left her to go shower. She’s going to murder Crop Top in his sleep.

The beach was nice, but something didn’t let her enjoy the day as much as she wanted to: Adora was acting a bit weird around her, especially when Catra touched her. Earlier, Catra had touched her arm when they were having lunch together and she went stiff, slowly turning to the other side and away from Catra’s touch. She had distanced herself for a bit, a little hurt by Adora’s actions, but not commenting anything.

Now she was in Scorpia’s big donut float while Perfuma and Frosta were close to her on another float. In the distance, she could see Adora under the umbrella with Bow and Glimmer. The couple was sharing an ice cream together while Adora was sitting with her knees under her chin, eating by herself. Why she was sulking, Catra had no idea. But she had an inclination that all this was about her.

Panic was starting to rise in her chest and she felt the air getting out of her lungs. _She had fucked up again without even knowing wh-_

“Catra,” Perfuma said, pulling her attention away from Adora “are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah.” she lied “Just a bit tired.”

“Me too.” Frosta said. She had her sunglasses on and the same poker face as always “I can’t wait to get back home.”

“I thought you were having a good time Frosta.” Perfuma said, sounding a bit hurt at her friend’s words.

“I was, but I don’t really like summer that much, and I miss my house.” the girl said, crossing her arms “And I’m also tired of seeing all these sappy shit you guys are pulling. I’m talking to you, Perfuma.”

“What do you mean?” Perfuma asked, sitting up on her float.

“Well, first Scorpia makes that thingy that you never take off your wrist, then you buy her flowers - even though _you know_ I’m allergic - and you guys have movie nights where you only watch movies that make you cry your eyes out. You guys are nice, but sharing a room with you sucks.”

Catra tried to hide her smile as Perfuma’s face got red from anger “Well… Then you don’t appreciate true romance!”

“Frosty, if you think Perfuma is bad,” Catra said, pointing to the umbrella “you should see Sparkles and Crop Top over there.”

“Urgh, tell me about it.” Frosta answered “Why is Adora looking like a lost puppy in there? Someone made fun of her forehead again?”

Catra’s heart clenched - _I caused this._

“I don’t know…” Perfuma said. Then, she looked at Catra with an eyebrow raised, but Catra only answered with a sad look “Maybe she is just bored.”

“Yeah.” Catra answered, curling in on herself “Maybe that’s it.”

A little later, Bow called everyone to get back to the van. Catra, Perfuma and Frosta got out of the water side by side, walking towards the circle of people around Crop Top. “Okay,” he started to say “Sea Hawk and I found this super nice diner a few quarters down, so how about we go there to have dinner?”

As everyone agreed, Catra pulled her attention towards Adora, who was on the opposite side of the circle. She was already looking at Catra, and she sent a smile in her way. Catra, still confused by Adora’s behaviour, smiled back weakly. 

She felt her arm being pulled, so she turned her head to Perfuma. “I’m sensing too much worry coming from you, do you want to go with us in Scorpia’s truck?”

Catra smiled, Perfuma was being really nice to her. Catra hoped they could be friends after this trip. “Sure.”

Catra picked up her white dress and put it back on, walking towards where the car and the van were parked. Adora was leaning on the van’s door, as if waiting for someone. Catra locked eyes with her for a second before slipping inside Scorpia’s car. She watched Adora’s expression drop as she got inside the van as well.

Catra’s heart was pumping fast, but in worry. No matter how much she thought, she couldn’t figure out what she had done to hurt Adora. _Oh no, was my blowjob bad? Did I have bad breath in the morning? Does she not like me anymo-_

“Hey, check this out.” Frosta, who was sitting between Catra and Entrapta, showed her a meme on her phone. Through the rest of the ride, Catra and Frosta browsed on twitter, an attempt to take Catra’s mind out of its unhealthy reverie.

Adora was sitting across from Catra in the diner’s booth, her hair in that half bun that Catra grew to love, her toned arms in sight due to the tank top she was wearing - she was beautiful. Catra’s head couldn’t function when she saw Adora like this. It was a pity that she could not admire her blue eyes right now, as she was avidly avoiding Catra’s.

The two booths the group was occupying were full of chatter, but none of it was coming from Adora or Catra. Happily, no one seemed to notice that. By the time they were done, she was walking out of the diner behind Frosta when she felt a hand in her wrist. She turned around to face Adora, who had a nervous look on her beautiful face.

“Hey.” she said “Don’t you wanna go with me in the van?”

Catra’s intention was to say no, but she couldn’t deny anything when Adora was looking at her like this. She only nodded, walking to the van’s passenger seat. Adora followed her quickly, petling the key to start the car.

At some point, Catra’s hand slides slowly to touch one of Adora’s hands that wasn’t on the steering wheel. However, when she touched it, she felt Adora tense up again, freezing under Catra’s touch. Tired, Catra snatched her hand away and turned her whole body to the window’s side, trying her best not to spill any tears. Not right now.

She was the first one to get out of the van, but as she was walking to the doors, she was stopped by Scorpia.

“Wildcat, we’re going to have a sleepover at Perfuma and Frosta’s room, do you wanna come with?” she asked.

Great, I can cry as hard as I want tonight. “Nah, too tired. Have fun.” she resumed her walking, getting to the elevator before everyone else. Thankfully, she was the only one with a room on the eighth floor, so none of her friends would see her crying as she fumbled with her keys before opening the door.

But before she could grab some ice cream from the fridge and cry as she watched a sad movie, she heard a knock at the door. She opened it, revealing a very sweaty, panting Adora. She got inside before Catra said anything and closed the door behind her.

“I saw you running off.” Adora said, still catching her breath “What happened?”

“You know, I could ask you the same thing.” Catra said, pointing her finger in Adora’s chest “You made me promise to tell you when something bad happened, but you are all weird and not talking to me! What did I do?”

“W-What? You didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, _I did.”_ Catra wiped her tears on the back of her hand “You’re obviously avoiding me, you can’t even touch me, Adora! Tell me what I did wrong.”

“Catra, please don’t cry.” Adora hugged Catra tightly, her own voice quivering “I’m sorry I made you cry. I was only avoiding you because I… I-I like you too much. And I, uh… Wow this is embarrassing.”

Catra pulled away a little, looking confused at Adora “If you like me so much, then you must have a great reason to be avoiding me all day.”

“Right. Okay, I’m gonna tell you.” Adora sighed, her face blushing from embarrassment “You’re really important to me, Catra. I want everything to be perfect for you a-and I guess I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

“In what?”

“Well… This morning was great, and I got very caught up in the moment.” Catra blushed at the memory “But then, I got nervous, because I knew you want to… _you know._ And I don’t want to disappoint you. So I panicked every time I got near you, and I’m sorry.”

Catra just looked at Adora for several seconds. Then, she burst into laughter.

“I know it’s embarrassing but you don’t need to laugh at me…” Adora said, pouting a little.

“It’s not that.” Catra said, catching her breath and cupping Adora’s cheek with one hand “Adora, you could never disappoint me. Really.” Adora’s expression softened, her eyes shining as they stared at each other “As long as I’m with you, everything is perfect.”

Adora hugged her again, sighing heavily “Wow. You really know exactly what to say to make me fall for you even more.” she started to kiss Catra’s neck gently, still holding her waist tightly.

“It’s a natural talent.” Catra pulled away from their embrace just to look at Adora’s eyes, a silent plead in her stare. Adora seemed to understand, pulling Catra forward to kiss her passionately. Adora bit Catra’s lower lip lightly, searching for her tongue with her own. Their kisses soon turned more heated, and so did their grips on each other.

“Do you really want to?” Adora asked, her eyes a bit darker than before “Want me?”

 _“Yes.”_ Catra answered in a whisper, lips still grazing the blonde’s. Suddenly, Adora grabbed the hem of her small dress and took it off of Catra’s body swiftly, her t-shirt following soon after. She felt strong hands gripping her thighs and was lifted, locking her legs around Adora’s torso as she caressed and gripped Catra’s ass and legs. Horny Adora has returned.

They stumbled towards the bedroom, not once interrupting their messy kisses. As Adora carried her, Catra moved her hips slowly, grinding on her dick. Adora whimpered into Catra’s lips every time their hips met on just the right spot. She pinned Catra to the bedroom door, keeping her higher up and moving to kiss her neck.

“Adora…” Catra moaned on her ear, making Adora shiver. Catra’s foot was shimmying in an attempt to push her shorts down, but with no success. She huffed in annoyance “Take it off.”

Adora chuckled, moving one arm behind her while the other was still holding Catra up “You seem too eager, Kitty Cat.” Her shorts fell to the floor and she returned her hand to Catra’s hip, feeling shivers as Catra’s heated core made contact with her cock through their underwear.

“I wouldn’t be if you weren’t so slow - _oh, fuck.”_ Catra’s remark turned into a sigh as she felt Adora push her bikini top aside and circle her nipple with her tongue. Then, she put the whole peak into her mouth, sucking as her eyes locked onto Catra’s. The brunette tilted her head back, losing herself in the sensation. She brought her hand up and took off her top completely, bringing Adora’s hand up to grip her other breast. _“Yes, hmm.”_ she sighed, melting under her touch.

Catra’s hands came up behind Adora and started pushing the blonde’s top up her chest, feeling the strong muscles of her back as Adora still hadn’t stopped lavishing her chest - not that she was complaining. She pushed the piece up to her neck and moved her hands to grip Adora’s larger breasts, earning a sigh from the woman. Adora tilted her chin up to meet Catra’s lips, their chests now pressed together on a tight embrace.

“You’re perfect.” Adora praised as they kissed “So hot.” 

_“All yours.”_ Catra whispered, opening her eyes to meet Adora’s dark gaze. Lust tainted their stares as the lovers caught their breath. Suddenly, Adora lowered her onto the ground and took off the rest of her clothes, standing bare in front of Catra as the brunette lost her words. She pulled Catra forward by the hips, crashing their bodies together and brushing her lips on Catra’s pierced ear. _“All mine.”_ Adora said in a low voice, nibbling her ear as Catra’s knees buckled. Impatient, she pulled the blonde into a hard kiss, standing on her tiptoes to reach her better.

Catra kept kissing her as Adora untied her bikini briefs. Soon, Catra was completely naked in front of her. She pulled away, putting her hands on Adora’s hips and smiling wickedly at the blonde. “Hey Adora.” she whispered, feeling Adora’s hands tighten their hold on her waist. Then, she was pulled into a searing kiss, Adora’s tongue battling with hers as Adora sat down on the edge of the bed.

“Catra…” Adora whispered, holding Catra’s hips as she straddled Adora’s lap, inches away from her member “Fuck, I want you. So much.” She sucked harshly on Catra’s neck, making her melt above her “I want to make you feel good.”

“Adora,” Catra kissed her lips softly, steading herself on Adora’s strong shoulders “You’ll always feel good to me.”

She started to sink down and they both hissed. Catra gasped and Adora buried her face on Catra’s neck, muttering praises to Catra “You’re doing great. Keep going.” Catra sank lower, she was half way down now, feeling already full.

“Adora,” she whined “I-I don’t think I can take it.”

“Yes, you can.” Adora said, kissing her shoulder slowly. She held Catra steady, pushing her own hips upwards “You can take it, baby. I know you can.”

Catra’s hips met Adora’s, finally bottoming out. Catra shuddered at the feeling, she was so full. When they looked down, they could see Adora’s cock poking her lower belly. “Fuck, Catra.” Adora hissed again, kissing her sensually.

Then, Catra started moving. Slowly, at first, still getting used to Adora’s size. But soon she was bouncing up and down, her hands in an iron grip on Adora’s shoulders and the blonde held her hip and her breast. They were both moaning loudly, Adora letting out a string of praises and Catra whimpering and whining.

“C-Catra - _ah_ . You’re s-so good to me, _fuck!”_ she started to thrust upwards too, their pace turning frantic “ _You’re gorgeous - AH!_ I’m so close!”

 _“Hmmm m-me too!”_ Catra moaned, cupping Adora’s cheeks between her hands and kissing her as they came together, gasping and biting at each other’s mouths. Catra’s fingers threading into Adora’s hair as she kisses Catra’s chest.

“Catra…” Adora sighed, resting her head on Catra’s shoulder.

“Hm?” Catra, with her chest still heaving, pulled Adora’s head up so they could stare at each other. But then, Adora held her hips and pulled out, laying Catra on the bed and settling by her side.

She cupped her cheek and whispered “I love you.”

Catra blushed, her mind going blank as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. She laughed, cupping Adora’s face as well “I love you too.” Adora’s eyes widened, and Catra laughed even more “Damn, we are so sappy.”

“Oh, shut up.” Adora laughed too, kissing all the way from Catra’s collarbone to her cheeks. “I love you so much.” she said in between kisses “I’ve always loved you.”

“Love you too.” Catra answered, hooking her leg on Adora’s hip “Now can we _please_ get back to what we were doing?”

She didn’t have to ask twice. Apparently, being sappy really did it for Adora, because her dick was twitching by now. They kissed deeply as Adora aligned herself with her entrance and slowly sank in.

This time, it was easier to bottom out because of their cum, but the feeling was still as amazing as it was before. Catra’s walls did their best to make way for Adora’s cock, and she knew the blonde was feeling the stretch just as much as her.

Now, they thrusted slow and deep, taking their time to savour everything that was happening to them. Between moans and gasps, they both whispered their ‘i love you’s in each other’s ears and kissing every spot they could reach.

Unlike before, they weren’t very fast, only picking up the pace a bit when they were closer. Catra had rested her forehead to Adora’s and said “Come on, babe. Let’s go together again - _ah! I love you!_ ” Adora had shifted Catra’s legs a bit, hitting a new spot _“Hmm - so much. I-I love you so much!”_

Adora could only gasp as a striking feeling went through her body, but she continued to thrust into Catra. The brunette felt the spurts of Adora’s cum flooding her, and she came with a whisper of her lover’s name.

They both shivered together, but didn’t stop the pace. Trying to make this feeling last as long as possible. Adora pulled Catra into a kiss, slow and full of emotions before their bodies relaxed and Adora collapsed into Catra.

“I loved every second of it.” Adora said, propping her chin up to stare at Catra “From now on, we’re making love everyday.”

“Everyday, huh?” Catra pecked her lips, bringing her arms upwards to hug Adora’s shoulders “I can live with that.”

They stayed tangled together for a bit, then Adora pulled out and pulled Catra into her lap, bringing them both inside the covers. Catra turned in Adora’s arms, tucking her face in the crook of her neck.

“Catra, will you be my girlfriend?” Adora asked as Catra was about to fall asleep. Chuckling, she lifted her head and pecked her lips.

“Of course, dummy. Now get some sleep or I’ll kick your ass in the morning.”

“I kinda like the sound of that.” Catra hit her arm as they both laughed “Fine! I’ll sleep.”

“I love you.” Catra said, tucking herself again.

“I love you too.” Adora answered, dropping a kiss in the crown of Catra’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished writing the fic!!! I'll try to post everything until this weekend.  
> You guys can find me on twitter [here](https://twitter.com/izzykingt)


	9. everything's changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora and Catra enjoy the changes in their relationship.

Catra’s deep sleep was interrupted by the feeling of wet kisses trailing up from her chest to her neck. She smiled, opening her eyes to stare at Adora’s gleaming ones.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” Adora said, pecking her lips and caressing her back.

“Mornin’.” she yawned, trailing her fingers through blonde locks. She then noticed that there was no light in the bedroom. “What time is it?”

“The sun is about to rise.” Adora said. Catra looked at her with an annoyed face, ready to complain “I know what you’re gonna say: we could sleep more. I know.” she cupped Catra’s face and brushed their noses together “But I thought it’d be a good idea to take a bath with my beautiful girlfriend before our friends came looking for us.”

Catra cracked a smile “You’re such an idiot.” she pecked Adora’s lips and pushed the covers aside, quickly getting up and swaying her hips on her way to the bathroom. As she got to the door, she turned around to watch Adora’s flushed face in her bed “Are you going to join me or not?”

At that, Adora jumped from the bed and jogged to hug Catra from behind, the two of them stumbling into the bathroom. Catra prepared the bath as Adora picked their clothes and towels, the room filling with the scent of lavender from the small bath bomb Catra put in the water. Adora entered first, spreading her legs to make room for Catra, who sat back on Adora’s chest. She felt Adora trailing kisses on her shoulders, slowly moving up her neck. Catra shivered as Adora licked all the way to her earlobe, hands tightening their grip on her freckled buttcheeks.

“Babe,” she sighed, putting her hand on the blonde’s cheek “we’re here to take a bath.”

“Oh, c’mon.” Adora moved her hands to her breasts, pinching her nipples “I just want to enjoy it a little bit better.”

Catra moaned lowly, pressing herself closer to Adora. Then, she felt her member poking her thigh, making her body quiver once again. She threw her head back and kissed Adora passionately, enjoying the feeling of her girlfriend’s hands travelling her body.

She tilted her head to kiss Adora’s jawline, watching as she closed her eyes and sighed heavily “Catra…”

Catra felt the strong heat building in her abdomen, her legs trembling with the strength of her desire. It all just heightened when Adora lowered her hand past her curls, making Catra gasp. She stopped right above the entrance, the anticipation almost killing Catra.

“Adora,” Catra whined, lifting a hand to grab Adora’s hair “don’t tease.”

“As you wish.” she felt two of her long fingers entering her, slow and gentle. Catra hummed, closing her eyes and resting her head on a strong shoulder. Adora started pumping in the perfect pace, leaving Catra a whimpering mess. All the while she felt Adora’s gaze fixed on her, like she was entranced. When her fingers curled and hit her favorite spot, Catra’s body froze and she came with gasps and whispers of Adora’s name.

“That’s it, baby.” Adora praised as the brunette’s orgasm ripped through her “Let go for me.”

Catra turned her torso and snatched Adora’s face to kiss her deeply, her chest still heaving. Adora responded eagerly, holding Catra’s waist to grind her against her member. Catra pulled away with Adora’s lower lip between her teeth. Then, she turned around again, this time facing the wall, and arched her back as she went forward, gripping the border of the tub. Adora’s hands found her waist and she heard water splashing around with the blonde’s movements.

“You sure?” she asked Catra, who turned her neck to look back and nod, too eager to speak. The bathwater made it difficult to tell, but she was sure that she would be dripping because of Adora’s gentle but firm touches. She had never felt this euphoric, this loved. Adora took her time with her, poured her feelings into her, and it was all Catra would’ve wished for.

Adora held her tightly as she aligned herself to Catra’s entrance. Then, she felt the tip entering her, sending shivers through her spine. Biting her lip, she held her breath as Adora slowly sank into her, making her walls flutter and her stomach churn with excitement. When she bottomed out, Adora let out a loud moan as Catra groaned.

“Fuck! Babe,” Adora started to thrust into her at a steady pace, making more water splash and fall out of the tub “you’re so tight - ah!” she hit a spot that had Catra hissing, her knuckles turning white from gripping the bathtub too hard “Gonna - hmm - fuck you so good!”

She started to thrust faster now, sending Catra’s body more forwards with each thrust. Catra couldn’t hold her moans anymore, her whole body couldn’t hold back. Her thighs were unstoppably quivering as they were glued to Adora’s, her toes curled in pleasure and her muscles twitched as she arched her back. Suddenly, she felt Adora’s fingers thread in her hair and give a push - not so hard to hurt badly, but enough to pleasure - making Catra scream her name.

“ADORA! Fuck!” Adora was pounding into her now, filing Catra’s ears with the delicious sounds of her moans and the sound of slapping skin “I-I’m gonna - AH!”

Catra came hard, lifting herself as best as she could. Adora soon followed, letting Catra’s hair loose as she gripped her girlfriend’s waist, thrusting more slowly as they rode their highs. Catra felt the harsh spurts of Adora’s cum warm her insides, feeling herself get completely full of Adora.

Finished, Catra’s body relaxed and Adora pulled out, letting out little moans at the sensation. Adora put one hand under Catra’s knees as the other circled her waist and pulled her backwards in a gentle embrace. She kissed all over Catra’s flushed face, bringing her closer to her chest.

“Was it too much?” she asked, voice muffled as she hid on Catra’s neck.

“Not at all, it was perfect.” Catra answered, cupping her face and kissing her softly. They rested their foreheads together, enjoying the cozy feeling of the aftermath. Then, Adora broke the silence.

“We should change the water to actually shower.”

“Totally.”

The next few days went by smoothly. Adora and Catra were still pretty discreet about their relationship - even though Catra suspected that Perfuma knew all along -, doing their best to spend as much time together as they could, because soon they wouldn’t have that luxury.

They had 5 days left of vacation, which means that they’ll have to talk about how they plan to make time for each other with all the work that awaits them when they finally return. Catra was very anxious - she still had that fear of Adora leaving her, even though she knows she loves Catra just as much as Catra loves her, but that tiny voice in her head refused to leave her. Their jobs take a lot of their time, so they’d have to get used to seeing each other mostly on weekends, which would be very difficult after spending a while falling asleep and waking up on each other’s arms practically everyday. 

Catra focused on the now as sat on Adora’s bed as her girlfriend did her hair in front of the mirror. She would push those worries aside and enjoy all the lazy time she has left with her lover as best as she could. She got up and walked to the bathroom, curling her arm around Adora’s torso, nuzzling between her shoulder blades. Adora chuckles, reaching a hand behind herself to squeeze Catra’s butt.

“Wow, babe.” said Catra “You’re so romantic.”

Adora laughed as she turned around, holding Catra’s face and kissing her slowly. “I love you.” she whispered, making Catra smile. “Let’s go, we can’t keep the others waiting.” she held Catra’s hand and guided her out of the room to meet up with the others.

Tonight they’ll go to an amusement park that comes to the Island every summer. Adora and Bow had been the most excited (as predictable) and had made a schedule to go to every single ride on the park. She also made a list of the coupley things she wanted to do with Catra there - sharing cotton candy and all -, she even dressed them so they were matching! Though, Catra couldn’t lie that they did look cute with the striped t-shirts and overalls.

Of course, as always, Catra pretended not to love it.

When they met the others in the lounge, Adora and Catra detangled themselves and greeted their friends. However, as soon as Bow saw them, his eyes shone and he pointed out:

“Look! You two are matching!” his voice cracked at the word ‘matching’, like an excited middle schooler.

“It was a coincidence.” Adora quickly lied.

“Yeah.” she said, crossing her legs as she sat on the couch “This bitch is always copying me.” Catra shot her girlfriend a smirk as she pouted. From the corner of her eye, she swore she saw Glimmer and Perfuma sharing a side glance at each other, but they didn’t say anything.

Right then, Scorpia and Frosta arrived and everybody went to the parking lot. Adora trailed behind Catra as they walked over to the van. Bow was going to drive them today and Catra thanked the heavens because she wouldn’t have to see Sparkles staring at them making ‘I know you like each other’ eyes. Although they were actually together, Catra got a bit shy when someone teased them for being like a couple.

They sat side by side on one of the seats, waiting for everybody else to arrive. Soon, Bow was heading to the north side of the Island, and Catra made herself comfortable by resting her head on Adora’s shoulder as the blonde’s arm circled her middle. Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate and picked it up to see a message from Frosta: she had sent Catra a picture of herself and Adora curled up together on the seat from her point of view. It was followed by an edited version of the first photo, only with hearts adorning every corner of the image and a caption that read #catradoracanon.

Catra gripped her phone with force as she looked ahead to see Frosta watching them from her seat with a devilish smirk as her eyebrows moved up and down. Catra flipped her off and turned to Adora’s side, curling up even more.

When they arrived, Bow jumped out of the van and ran to the entrance with Glimmer chasing after him. Everyone got their tickets and roamed around the park, Catra was dragged by an overly excited Adora to those stands full of prizes. The blonde had managed to win 3 prizes - a small purple bracelet and two colorful plushies - and gave all of them to Catra. Later, they rode on the bumper cars with Bow, Glimmer, Sea Hawk and Mermista, who were incredible opponents, Catra had to admit. On the second round, Glimmer and Catra teamed up against their friends and absolutely destroyed them, laughing maniacally as the car spun uncontrollably.

They spent a long time like this, having fun with their friends and playing around like children. When Bow and Glimmer excused themselves to ride the Tunnel of Love (which Catra refused to do, even with Adora’s pleads), Catra bought them cotton candy as Adora waited in line for their ride on the Ferris Wheel. 

It was gigantic, the type of thing that gave you goosebumps just by looking at it. Which made Catra worry since last time she rode one of those with Adora, when they were 13, the blonde had nearly passed out in Catra’s arms, face pale and all that. But, her girlfriend swore that she would be alright and that she wanted to do something nice and romantic with Catra before the vacation ended.

When she returned with the sweets, it was their turn to enter the small and round booth. When they did, Adora clung to her arm as if it were a lifeline, hiding her face in her neck.

“Do you want to get out?” Catra asked, sliding a big piece of blue candy into her mouth.

“No. I can do it.” Adora said, voice feigning confidence “I’m just cuddling with you.”

“Hm-hm. Sure.” Catra teased, smirking.

“Shut up!” Adora said, nuzzling Catra’s neck. As the booth when higher up in the sky, Adora dropped more and more kisses on Catra’s nape and shoulders.

“Adora,” Catra called her attention, keeping her voice steady “not now. We’re in public.”

“What? I can’t kiss my girlfriend in public?” Adora asked, moving to nibble her jaw.

“You can kiss me, just don’t leave hickeys.” Catra tickled Adora’s side, which made her move away, giggling a bit.

Adora returned to sit close to her, sliding an arm around her shoulders. “We have to arrange a day for us to see each other next week.” Adora said as they finished their candy.

“You’re already missing me?” Catra asked jokingly, smiling at Adora. However, the blonde was serious.

“I am, very much.” she said, leaning down to brush her nose on Catra’s cheek. “I just… Don’t want us to change… To be apart like that again.”

“We’re not.” Catra reassured her, cupping her cheek so they could see eye to eye “We’re never going back to being like that, okay? Besides, we’ve already changed.” Adora nodded, her face still a bit sad. Catra kissed her softly “I love you, Adora. I’m not gonna let things between us fail.”

“Me neither.” said Adora, kissing Catra again “And I love you too.”

Catra giggled against her lips, pulling away to look at her eyes. “You know, I’m really excited to meet Swiftie.”

Adora beamed, then her eyes widened “Oh! That reminds me!” she tightened her grip on Catra, the gleam in her gaze returned “I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” Catra lifted an eyebrow “What is it?”

“Duh. It’s a surprise.”

“Bleh. I wanna know.” Catra insisted, making her best attempt at the Puss in Boots look.

“Okay, I’ll give you a clue.” Catra smiled, turning to Adora’s side, putting the brunette's legs across her lap “Its color is black.”

“...And?”

“That’s all I can say.”

“Urgh! You’re no fun!” Catra huffed, but smiled as Adora held her closer in her lap. When she turned her head, she saw that the last rays of sun were disappearing in the sunset, painting the sky in a mix of orange, purple and dark blue.

“You know what?” Adora asked, also looking at the sky “I guess my fear of the Ferris Wheel vanished.”

“Really?” Catra asked, hooking her arms on Adora’s shoulders “How so?”

“You see,” Adora stared at her with a smug look on her face “When I’m with you, everything else turns less important.”

“Oh my God you are  _ such  _ an idiot.” Catra said before she pulled Adora forwards to kiss her passionately.


	10. new beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the last day of vacation and Adora and Catra have to say goodbye to each other. For now.

Catra stood in front of her bed, her clothes neatly folded inside her open bags while she organized Adora’s clothes on another. She held Adora’s white shirt that she stole after their first date to her chest, remembering how amazing it felt to fall asleep next to her after so long and with a whole new meaning. She folded it and put it into her own bag, it was hers now. Besides, she’s pretty sure Adora also stole Catra’s pajama shorts, so they’re even now.

“Hey Wildcat?” Scorpia appeared at the door, still in her pajamas and with her hair very disheveled.

“Hm?” as Catra looked at her friend, she saw that Scorpia’s eyes were a bit different from their gleaming usual “What’s wrong, Scorp?”

Scorpia moved to sit on her bed, watching Catra finish organizing “Can I ask your opinion about something?” she asked, fidgeting with a bracelet that Catra was sure was a gift from Perfuma.

“Sure. What’s on your mind?”

Scorpia sighed, leaning her elbows on her knees. “Okay, so you know how I kind of don’t love my work, right?”

“Scorpia, admit it. You hate it there.”

“Yes, gosh I really hate it.” Scorpia sighed again, threading her fingers through her hair “Okay, so Perfuma is my girlfriend now, as we all know.” Catra nodded, smiling at the way Scorpia’s face flushed “And I really think I love her. And she offered me to move in with her.”

Catra widened her eyes, her arms frozen mid-air “Wow. Okay, well, typical lesbian behaviour. But that’s not what’s bothering you, right?”

“No. The thing is: she’s going to open a flower shop below her apartment, and I think I want to quit my job to go work with her.”

Catra stared at Scorpia, who was nervously waiting for an answer. Catra gave her friend a small smile “Scorpia,” Catra said, clutching Baby Yoda in her arms “if you think that working with Perfuma will make you happier, then that’s what you gotta do. We all know you hate your job.”

“But don’t you think it’s too soon?” Scorpia asked “I mean, we just got together, and now we’re gonna work together too…”

“It might be soon, yeah. But you’ve also waited too long to do something that you actually enjoy.” Catra smiled as she saw Scorpia relax, nodding her head slowly “I say that, if that’s what you really want, you should go for it.”

Scorpia got up from the bed and scooped Catra up into a bear hug “Thank you, Wildcat! You’re the wisest person ever!”

Catra just laughed, hugging her best friend back. “Well, guess I gotta talk with Perfuma now.” Scorpia said, waving Catra goodbye before she walked confidently to her girlfriend’s room.

Catra carefully put Baby Yoda and mini Appa in one of her bags, zipping it closed. Then, she picked the pile of Adora’s clothes and looked at it.  _ She wouldn’t mind if I stole another one, right? _

She put on Adora’s large orange shirt and tucked it into her skinny jeans, letting her hair down for today. She picked up her baggage and put it in the living room with Entrapta’s. They’re leaving tonight, all of them. Soon, Catra will go back to working at her office and sleeping at her small, cozy apartment. Hopefully, Adora will join her for most of the nights.

She thought back on the day the three of them got here and how Catra was certain this was going to be a simple vacation that they’d be sick of after the second week, and now she was sad to be leaving. She thought back to the day she and Adora screamed at each other near her old house, how they tried to end an almost life-long friendship. How wrong they were to think that they could just pretend that it didn’t exist anymore.

_ Life really does surprise us. _

Her phone chimed, Adora had just sent her a text:

_ Hey babe, good morning <3 _

_ Can you come to the pool rn? I need your help with sth _

Catra told her she would be there and walked to the elevator. What could Adora be doing at the pool on a cloudy day?

When she got there, she spotted Adora sitting on the same chair she sat on their first night here, except now she was holding a big box in her arms. “Wow, I’m finally getting my surprise!” Catra cheered. Adora stood up, the box still in her arms and a beaming smile on her face.

“Yes!” she said “But first I wanna say some things to you.” Catra blushed as her heart leaped, like it did everytime Adora did sappy shit (that she loved so much) “Okay, so. I know we will see each other constantly, and I also know that- wait, is that my shirt?” she asked, crooking her head to the side.

“ _ My _ shirt.” Catra said “Please, continue.”

“Right. Anyways,” Adora took a deep breath “I know that what we have is something deep, and beautiful. You were my best friend and the person that has supported me through all the hardest moments of my life.” Catra was already tearing up and she could tell that Adora was too “And you still are. You are my forever girl, Catra. I’ve always loved you and I always will.”

Catra sighed, feeling her whole body buzzing in bliss as she stepped closer to her girlfriend.  _ My forever girl. _

“What I guess I wanted to say is that… I hated being apart from you, and I don’t want it to happen ever again. So I got you this,” she pushed the big box towards Catra “to make you company while I’m busy at work.”

Catra held the box and put it on the ground, heartbeat thundering in her ear. However, when she opened it, she froze. “Another box?” Catra asked, looking up at Adora, who was bouncing on her feet in excitement.”

“It’s a transport box.” Adora said. As she saw that Catra didn’t move, she urged “Lif it!”

Catra did as she said, settling the transport box on the box and, when she opened it, she gasped loudly. She stood still, shock evident in her eyes as she stared at the small black cat inside it. It was meowling at her, slowly approaching.

“This is Melog!” Adora said. Catra noticed that she was bouncing with anxiety “When I told Scorpia I was going to that institution, I wasn’t lying. I went there for the puppies, but they told me they had just got him from the streets.” Catra picked him up, watching as he sniffled her hands, then stretched to sniffle her chin. She stood up, now facing Adora as she continued to talk “And I remembered you love cats, so I wanted to give him to you. They said I should wait until he was properly nourished, so I got him an hour ago.” Catra was still silent, looking down at the kitten “So? Do you like him?”

Catra lifted her head to look at Adora, tears pouring from her eyes. “Adora…” her voice and her lips were quivering, she found it was very difficult to speak like this “T-This is t-the best gift e-ever.” 

Adora cooed and hugged her girlfriend, careful not to press too hard to hurt Melog. Catra rested her head on Adora’s shoulder, crying tears of happiness. “I love you so much, Catra.” Adora said, caressing her back lovingly. 

Catra tilted her head up so she was nose to nose with Adora, who had crouched down a little “I love you too.” she kissed her softly, tasting a bit of salt on her own lips. Then, they heard Melog meowing again, so they pulled away and nuzzled the cat “And I love you too, Melog!” the two women giggled and kissed as Melog purred between them.

The doors of the elevator opened and they stepped out, looking for Perfuma’s room where everyone was supposed to meet before lunch. When they stopped in front of the door, Catra reached for the handle with her free hand - the other was holding Melog’s box - but was stopped by Adora. She turned Catra around and dipped her, giving her a filthy kiss that made Catra’s whole body burst into flames. They parted for air and Adora spun her back, Catra still a bit wobbly and with a face as red as a beet. “Love you.” Adora whispered before she knocked on the door, an arm still curled around Catra’s middle. 

_ Fucking tease! _

Perfuma opened the door, greeting them with hugs. She looked at Catra and put a hand on her own chest “Catra, are you okay?” she asked as they entered the room “You look very red.”

Catra blushed even more “I’m great! It’s just… Hot in here.” Adora chuckled by her side, tightening her grip on Catra’s waist.

“What’s in the box?” Frosta asked, pulling everyone’s attention to the box in Catra’s hand.

“Everyone,” Catra said, stepping into the middle of the room “we want you to meet Melog!” she opened the box, but Melog didn’t move.

“Melog?” Adora asked, crouching down in front of the box “Son? Come meet the rest of your family!” she pulled the shy kitten into her arms and stood up, turning around so everyone could see. Their friends cooed loudly, some gasping and clapping their hands.

At all the noise, Melog meowed - like an extremely high pitched roar - and everyone cooed again. Catra stood beside Adora’s shoulder, caressing Melog with the back of her hand.

“It’s a cat!” Bow said as he got up from the sofa “You have a cat! And it’s beautiful!” incredibly, Bow’s voice managed to crack at every single word.

As the noise calmed a bit, Adora straightened up and made another announcement “Everyone! Attention!” all eyes were on her now. She curled an arm around Catra’s shoulder, bringing them impossibly closer “I also want you guys to meet someone.”

“Um, Adora.” interrupted Sea Hawk “We already know Catra.”

“Yeah, okay.” Adora rolled her eyes but beamed again as she stole a glance at Catra “But this is my  _ girlfriend  _ Catra.”

The room erupted in screams, making Catra’s ears hurt and her face blush. She heard Scorpia and Perfuma gasping as Glimmer shot up from the couch, jumping up and down saying ‘yes! I knew it!’. Mermista groaned, ‘fucking finally’ she said as Sea Hawk and Bow smiled and clapped their hands.

“HA! I told you!” Frosta pointed a finger at Catra “Catradora is Canon!”

Adora and Catra laughed at their friends, both very happy with their reactions. Then, Glimmer stopped jumping and moved her hand to her pocket, sliding money to Mermista and Frosta. “So I was right!” Adora said “You bet money on us Glimmer!”

“Well, yeah. Of course I did.” she said, continuing to give money to some of the others “Sooner or later you would stop the eye fucking and would actually do something about it.”

Catra scoffed “Who won this thing then?”

“Some of us bet that you would get together before the last day of vacation, like me.” continued Glimmer, giving the last quantity to Frosta “Most of us bet that you would do it today, though. But it’s okay, I’m actually happy to have lost for once.”

Catra and Adora shared a look. Catra shook her head very discreetly. She wasn’t about to let Glimmer find out that they had gotten together weeks ago and that she had won the bet.

Entrapta, who had been awfully quiet, stood up and started to take pictures of Melog “Honestly, I thought it would take you guys longer to get together.” she said.

“Why?” asked Adora, moving her hand to scratch Melog’s chin.

“Because you two seem to be bad at communication skills and don’t assimilate when the other shows interest.” Entrapta explained “But I’m happy I was wrong!”

Adora laughed, resting her chin on Catra’s head “Yeah, I’m happy you were wrong too.”

“Owwwnn.” Bow cooed, standing near them “Look at you two. You make the cutest couple!”

Catra made an angry face at him while Adora beamed, hugging Catra closer “I know, right?!”

It was almost time for them to go. Scorpia was waiting for her in the parking lot with Melog, Perfuma and Entrapta. She had just picked up her bags when she heard someone clearing their throat on the doorframe. She turned to see her girlfriend learning against it, a dumb smile plastered o her face.

“Hey Adora.” Catra said, dropping her bags on the ground and walking towards the taller woman “Came to kiss me goodbye.”

“I did.” she said “A temporary goodbye, because I already arranged to be free on wednesday night to sleep at your place.” she wrapped her arms around Catra’s waist and rested their foreheads together.

“Good.” Catra said, closing her eyes to focus on the feeling of warmth “I can’t wait until wednesday.”

Adora chuckled before pulling her into a kiss. It started out slow but soon they were pressing their bodies closer as their tongues danced together. They pulled away, panting against each other’s lips and opening their eyes.

“Hold it, babe.” Catra said, sliding her hand up to cup Adora’s cheek “We have to leave now. Save it for wednesday.”

Adora kissed her again, this time softer than before. “Thank you, Adora.” Catra said as they parted, making Adora furrow her brows at her.

“For what?” the blonde asked.

“For forgiving me, and being my friend.” Catra said, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes “And for loving me. And also for the best vacation ever.”

Adora laughed, pecking her lips again “Then I guess I have to thank you too. Especially for loving me back.” Adora said, breathing in the scent of Catra’s hair “We’ll work it all out. I know you worry a lot, but I promise you: we’re never gonna be apart again.”

Catra smiled. Adora was right. This isn’t the end. 

Their story was only beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now there's only the epilogue left, so I'll probably post it tomorrow. I'm super happy to be ending this story, and even happier to read you guys's comments. Thank you for reading ❤


	11. Epilogue: baby, you're my forever girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six years had passed since Adora and Catra confessed their feeling for each other - a short and soft epilogue.

The lights outside their windows gave a big contrast to the dark night sky, Catra could only shiver at the thought of how cold it must be out there. Thankfully, she was safely inside the living room of their apartment, a sweet smell coming from the kitchen warming everyone. She walked towards their blue bookshelf, picking the book she had begun reading last week - it was besides a framed picture of Hope, Adora and Catra and the beloved mini statue of the sky bison.

She sat on the couch with her legs propped up, as Swiftie slept by her feet and Melog played with his toys in the corner. 

She was reading the latest Mer-Mysteries book - a christmas gift from Mermista - while she caressed her belly. It was getting bigger and bigger with each passing week, and she thought she was going to burst from all the overwhelming love she felt for their child. She could only imagine how it would feel when she cradled their child to her chest, how it would feel when she and Adora would put them to sleep with lullabies. She wondered if their baby would have eyes as blue as Adora’s - she hopes so - and if their skin would be freckled like hers. She wanted to finally meet them so bad.

During nights like this, Catra reminisces the past - every moment since their childhood. She remembers all the sleepovers she and Adora had when they were children, all of the laughs they shared as teens and, of course, their fallout, which was a big part of their story. But, like all other challenges, they got over it stronger than ever and built a future their younger selves would have only dreamed of. One of Catra’s favorite memories was the night she had planned to propose to Adora, two years after they started dating, at the same beach they had their first date in Mystacor Island and, as she was about to go down on one knee, Adora beat her to it and they both cried in joy as the sea water touched their feet.

Another beautiful memory was the day she had found out they were going to have a baby after one long year of trying - Adora had just gotten back from work, the pregnancy tests safely tucked inside her bag. She and Catra went straight to the bathroom to find out if their suspicions were true. Adora held her wife in a tight embrace, it wasn’t the first time they found themselves in this situation but maybe, just maybe, tonight was the night. And it was.

Now, five months in, Finn was already the greatest thing they could ever wish for.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash coming from the kitchen, pulling everyone’s attention towards the other room - Swiftie woke up with his ears held high and Melog’s tail puffed up as the black cat hissed.

“Babe?” Catra called, putting her book on the small table in front of her. Then, Adora came to the living room, wearing the purple apron Entrapta had gifted her last christmas. 

Adora came to sit by her side, an awkward smile on her face and a plate of cookies in her hands. “I dropped that plate Glimmer gave us when we moved here.” Adora confessed as he set the cookies on the table, pushing aside the vase with flowers that Scorpia and Perfuma brought them last week “Don’t tell her please.”

Catra laughed, picking one cookie and pressing herself to her wife’s side “S’Okay, it was ugly anyways.” Adora laughed, muscles relaxing instantly as she wrapped one arm around Catra’s back and bringing the brunette’s legs to her lap. Her calloused hands lifted Catra’s shirt, crumpling it under her breasts to caress her belly. Sometimes, Adora spent hours drawing circles all over Catra’s stomach, telling Finn stories and humming softly. Catra didn’t even pretend she was bothered by the sappiness, it was her favorite sight.

Adora tilted her head up and they stared at each other, all soft smiles and shining eyes. Catra brought Adora closer to a chaste kiss, the always present butterflies dancing in her chest. Adora pulled away and rested her forehead on Catra’s, her hand still warm on her belly.

“I love you.” Adora whispered, nuzzling her nose to Catra’s “Both of you.” she brought Catra’s hand to her lips, kissing right on her ring. Catra could almost feel the word engraved in it - _forever_ \- burning at the affection.

Catra gave a small chuckle, kissing her wife again, and again, and again. She knew she didn’t have to say it back, Adora knew that she was her forever girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end folks!!! Thank you so much for all the feedback and the amazing comments. I hope you liked this story just as much as I liked writing it ❤  
> I hope to see you guys again on other stories I might write in the future!


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